Ridgewood Council Moves School Board Election Back To April

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — The Village Council Wednesday voted to move the Board of Education election from November back to April.

The vote was 3-2 in favor of the move. Council members Jeff Voigt and Bernadette Walsh voted against it. Council member Michael Sedon, Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen, and Mayor Ramon Hache voted in favor of the move.

Moving the election back to April means residents can once again vote on the school district's budget, a right they lost four years ago when the election was moved to November. Sixty-seven percent of villagers' tax bills go to the school district.

The vote came after a robust discussion between the council and four members of the Board of Education at the beginning of the meeting. Board Vice President James Morgan was not there.

Board President B. Vincent Loncto and trustee Sheila Brogan made impassioned pleas for the council to reconsider making the change only after engaging the public in the fall when more people are home, rather than now, in the middle of the summer when many people are out of town.

"There is no urgency to get this done," Brogan said. "You are usurping the power of the Board of Education. Nobody wants to say no, just don't do it right now. Do it in September."

Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen said in April that she and Hache, who meet with Superintendent Daniel Fishbein and Loncto monthly, said that the public was interested in moving the school election back to April.

"I was told that we would have that discussion. May and June came and the Board of Education never discussed it and there hasn't been any discussion," Knudsen said. "We've gotten so many emails and only a handful said 'hold the conversation until November. People really want this election back to April."

A state-mandated moratorium on moving the vote back to April expired May 31, but state legislation could put that moratorium back on if signed into law. The legislation is currently awaiting action by the state Senate.

Village Manager Heather Milander analyzed the voter turnouts from 2007 to 2017. It showed that an average of 21 percent of registered voters vote in April school elections. In November, during general elections, the average is 16 percent, Milander's analysis showed.

"In November, 0 percent of people are given the chance to vote," Knudsen said. "In April 100 percent of people have that option."

Hache argued that the decision to move the vote was not about the Village Council trying to meddle with the Board of Education.

"It's not about making people happy. It's about what is right; 67 percent of tax dollars is not a small decision," Hache said. "The right and privilege to vote and the choice to vote, they are not the same. What empowers voters more is whether they choose to exercise it or not."

Residents applauded the council for its decision.

"Thank you," Steve Kim said. "You can never take the right to vote for granted."

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com

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