This is the sixth time Montclair voters will be asked to end mayor-appointed school boards – NorthJersey.com

For the sixth time since 1940, Montclair voters are again deciding whether to change their school governance model from a mayor-appointed board of education to an elected board. 

The last referendum, in 2009, resulted in a vote to stay with an appointed board.

Montclair is one of only 3% of school districts in the state with a so-called Type I board, consisting of seven members appointed by the mayor. 

If voters approve the change, the district will join the vast majority of New Jersey districts with a Type II model, with nine members elected by the public. 

The budget process would change as well. In Type I towns such as Montclair, school budgets are determined by the Board of School Estimate, a separate body that ordinarily is chaired by the mayor, with two members from the council and two from the school board.

With an elected board, budgets are determined by the school board; bonding for capital improvements and budgets that exceed a roughly 2% increase over prior years’ taxes go to the public for a vote.

Proponents of an elected board say an appointed board gives the mayor too much power. The fact that Mayor Sean Spiller is also the president of the New Jersey Education Association — the statewide teachers union — has increased concerns about the system. It’s no coincidence that the ballot question initiative was rekindled last year during the prolonged battle between the Montclair Education Association (the local affiliate of the NJEA) and the school board over reopening schools during the pandemic.

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Though Spiller remained publicly neutral during the standoff, his influence on the local school board, along with his position as a leader of the NJEA, was noted by residents. 

Spiller, who has appointed four board member since he was elected in 2020, does not sit on the Board of School Estimate. A lawsuit in 2015, when he was a councilman and NJEA leader, removed him from the board. After he became mayor last year, the council voted to have another councilman sit on the board instead. 

Benefits of appointed school board

Advocates for an appointed board say it provides greater transparency and is more effective at narrowing the student achievement gap. 

According to Doris Schapira of the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, an elected board can become political despite being nominally nonpartisan, since members have to finance their own campaigns and may become beholden to contributors.

An elected board, she says, makes it easy for single-issue candidates to have an outsize influence on decisions about the schools. Only 10 signatures are needed to run, and voter turnout hovers around 10%. What’s more, many voters in November elections focus on the top of the ballot and don’t vote down-ballot for school board members, she said.

“Our survey of past board members shows that the majority would not have run for elected office because of the cost and time it takes for campaigning and raising funds,” she said. “Money should not be the reason someone serves on the board of education.”

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The League is also concerned about putting a vote on the school bond referendums into the public’s hands. “Thirty-one percent of school bond referendums were voted down in 2020,” she said. “An appointed BOE can protect the district from voters without children in the schools who just want to keep their tax bills down.” 

To address the potential for a mayoral conflict of interest and reflect the town’s diversity, the league recommends that an advisory committee of eight to 10 community members identify and nominate board members for appointment by the mayor. 

Benefits of elected school board

Councilman Peter Yacobellis said an elected board will make the selection process more transparent and put it in the “hands of the people.” 

“With the current system, you have only one chance every four years to have any say or influence over school policy, with the election of the Mayor,” he said in an email to voters. “With the proposed system, you would have a say almost every year as some of the staggered terms of nine Board Members ended and they were re-elected or replaced.”

Yacobellis said he has no issues with Spiller’s appointments. “They are upstanding and terrific people,” he said. “But should any one person have all that power?” 

“We can invite fresh thinking and perspectives by expanding the Board of Education from seven to nine individuals and having them be directly elected by [the people].”

While acknowledging that there is the potential for candidates or factions with “narrow agendas” to take over the board, he said it’s a “small risk.”

“I trust the outcome of a town-wide election more than the judgment of any one woman or man who is mayor at any given time.”

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In-person early voting is Oct. 23 to Oct. 31, and any Essex County residents may use any of the following polling sites during the early voting period only: 

• Essex County (all locations open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.):
• Bloomfield: Watsessing Park Community Center, Bloomfield Avenue & Conger Street
• Cedar Grove: Cedar Grove Park Community Center, 199 Fairview Ave.
• East Orange: East Orange City Hall, 44 City Hall Plaza
• Fairfield: Fairfield Community Center, 221 Hollywood Ave.
• Irvington: Irvington Municipal Building, 1 Civic Square West
• West Orange: New Education Center at South Mountain Recreation Complex, 560 Northfield Ave.
• Newark: Essex County Complex Parking Garage, West Market Street Entrance
• Newark: Cherry Blossom Welcome Center Branch Brook Park, Park Avenue and Lake Street
• Newark: Weequahic Park Community Center, Meeker Avenue & Elizabeth Avenue
• Newark: West Side Park Community Center, 600 17th St.

For questions about how to vote or for help with your ballot, contact the Essex County Clerk’s office at 973-621-4920 or email info@essexclerk.com.

Julia Martin is the 2021 recipient of the David Carr Reporter of the Year award for her coverage of Montclair for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

Twitter: @TheWriteJulia