In overwhelming vote, Montclair chooses to have an elected school board – Montclair Local

By LOUIS C. HOCHMAN, TALIA WIENER AND JAIMIE JULIA WINTERS
news@montclairlocal.news

Montclair voters have approved a move to an elected school board — putting aside the municipality’s long-held practice of mayoral appointments, and taking on the process seen in 97% of New Jersey school districts.

The referendum before voters Tuesday (and in the weeks leading up to it, through early voting and mail-in balloting) was the latest version of a proposal Montclarians have rejected five times since the 1960s. When Montclair last put a referendum question on a change to an elected board before voters in 2009, the question was defeated 57% to 43%.

The vote this election bucked that trend — and wasn’t close. Even with some votes yet to be counted, the victory for the pro-elected side of what’s been a fierce community debate for months was so lopsided as to be insurmountable.

In unofficial results reported by the Essex County Clerk’s office around 11:30 p.m. on Election Night Tuesday, 8,187 backed the change to a Type II school system with an elected board — 70.69% of the vote tallied to that point. Just 3,394 voted to keep the current Type I system with a mayor-appointed board.

“This election was about the basics of local democracy and public services: About residents in our township enjoying the same voting rights as in other communities, and then using these rights to ensure that our most precious residents — our children — are given the best public education possible,” Vote Montclair, the group that successfully petitioned to put the referendum question on the ballot, said in a statement posted to its website late Tuesday.

The results as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday included 31 of the township’s 35 voting districts. They didn’t yet count provisional ballots, which wouldn’t be counted for days. They include early votes and mail-in ballots received and counted by Essex County up until that point. As of Monday, the Essex County Clerk’s office had received 2,915 of 5,982 requested mail-in ballots.

The measure does more than just change the method of selecting school board members. Two more members will be added to the current seven-member board, through a special election early next year. Going forward, board elections will be held every November, for three seats at a time.

Montclair will cease to be a so-called Type I district, which in addition to having a mayor-appointed board, has a separate Board of School Estimate to approve budgets and fix costs for capital expenses before they’re sent to the Township Council for bonding. The BoSE will be dissolved. The change will be effective as soon as the vote is certified.

As a Type II district — the kind seen in most New Jersey municipalities — the school system’s budgets will generally be approved by the school board itself. If they exceed a 2% cap on year-to-year property tax levy growth, they’ll go to voters for approval. Capital improvement bonds will go before the public as well, either in regularly scheduled or special elections.

Vote Montclair, in its statement, said the effort to move to an elected board “can be measured in decades,” and that the debate over the matter had often been “bitter.”

“Advocates of both positions were at times too quick to level charges of underhanded tactics and shadowy financial connections,” it wrote. “But it is clear that most who have been in the fray have been driven by what they truly believe is in the best interests of the Township, and its children. Those who are now celebrating should be especially mindful of this. And everyone should be grateful for the enormous contribution of many of those who opposed this referendum, who in some cases fought for years for the cause of educational equity, often at no small personal cost.”

It urged a focus on ensuring the elected board would “benefit from smart, independent-minded, focused and driven members of our community.”

Carmel Loughman, communications chair for the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, which supported continuing with the Type I, mayor-appointed system, said the group was glad to see a “decent turnout for the election.” Proponents of both sides got their points across in forums, letters to the editor and newspaper guest columns, she said.

“Of course we are disappointed our position was voted down,” Loughman said. “We hope that all the excitement and energy spent on the campaigns will be devoted to addressing school issues. The League will be happy to moderate BOE candidate forums when the time comes. Montclair is a great community. We will work together to keep it that way.”

Proponents of the current system had argued low turnout in most school elections means the appointed system can actually better represent Montclair, saying mayors can choose appointees who represent a variety of skills and backgrounds, and who come from throughout the township. And they said elections invite electioneering, with the potential for monied special interests to dominate campaigns.

Some advocates for appointment said candidates in an elected system could be pressured to cut school spending and avoid capital improvement projects. And many worried an elected system might jeopardize Montclair’s cherished magnet school system, or the busing that makes it possible.

Sergio Gonzalez, a former board member passed over for reappointment by Mayor Sean Spiller earlier this year, disputed that idea at a forum run by Montclair Local. He said the magnet system — Montclair’s answer to a 1967 case that mandated it desegregate its schools — is “part of the value that draws people here, and they make a choice. Look at the map. It’s a blue town. … It’s in our blood. It’s in our DNA. There’s zero risk to the magnet system.”

Proponents of the elected system argued it better holds board members accountable to voters. They’ve said it’s easier to avoid the influence of special interests in nine elections for board members over three years than in a single election for mayor once every four years — pointing to the example of current Mayor Sean Spiller, now president of the powerful New Jersey Education Association, who saw substantial financial support from the union during his 2020 campaign (when he was the NJEA’s vice president).

And they’ve said issues including years of infrastructure problems, a rapid succession of six superintendents since 2012 and delayed or deferred spending on capital improvements have showed the current system wasn’t working.

The League had advocated for an advisory committee to help mitigate a concern Spiller’s dual roles present a conflict of interest. Representatives of Vote Montclair noted that nothing in New Jersey law can require such an advisory group exist; a mayor could disband or disregard it at any time.

The debate saw little consensus among elected officials or community groups. For instance, the Montclair NAACP chapter declined to take a position on the matter, even as its own education committee endorsed a move to an elected board. Roger Terry, the chapter’s president, said late Tuesday the Montclair branch “supports our entire community and whatever is in the best interest of our most precious commodity, our children.”

On the pages of Montclair Local’s opinion section, Councilman Peter Yacobellis argued for an elected board, saying Montclair voters should trust themselves to guide the school system, and that power over the district shouldn’t rest in the hands of any one mayor. Councilman David Cummings, in another guest piece for Montclair Local, advocated for an appointed board, saying an appointed board brings the community a selection of members with diverse backgrounds and experience — and cautioning low turnout at school elections could mean a small handful of people make big decisions for Montclair schools. Councilwoman Lori Price Abrams, in yet another guest piece, made many of the same arguments, also warning of a risk to the magnet system and saying a Type II system could move large capital improvement projects ahead faster.

Abrams and Yacobellis, in separate statements late Tuesday night, each stressed looking ahead. Abrams said she respects the choice of the voters, and that all those involved in the debate over the referendum “share a commitment to excellence in education through curriculum, enrichment opportunities and buildings which facilitate learning for every kind of student.” Yacobellis called Montclair a special town with a unique history, and said he hopes “all of this passion turns into people having sustained participation because that’s what it’s going to take to truly change things.”

And Councilman Bob Russo — a former mayor who said recently he favored an appointed board, but thought proponents of an elected one had made points worth considering — told Montclair Local he congratulates those who supported the referendum, and hopes they’ll “work together with me and the council to implement the new system of governing our schools.”

Where that leaves HVAC upgrades

The change also upends a process in recent months to bond for $15.5M in district-wide HVAC repairs, and eventually much more.

School leaders see a proposed HVAC project as the most urgently needed work at the district’s aging facilities, where they’re struggling to address issues including parents’ and staff member’s coronavirus safety concerns. But it only represents a portion of their total recent request of the Board of School Estimate and Township Council.

On Aug. 16, the school board sent the BoSE a formal request for $60 million in bonding. Then, when the BoSE met Sept. 30, school leaders outlined about $150 million in requested bonding, to be spread out over years — with the $15.5 million HVAC work up first.

School officials had proposed the extensive projects hoping to get ahead of the election and the possible district type change. But the clock ran out, with no project approved by the BoSE or ever sent to the Township Council.

Now, for the HVAC project to move forward, the school district would have to schedule a special election — at its own expense. Any borrowing rates will be based on an assessment of its own credit, not that of the township, which has a AAA bond rating.

Yacobellis, in his statement, urged the board of education “to consider what level of investment is needed in the short term and begin the process of putting a bond to the voters as soon as possible.” He’d been among those who pushed for the board and BoSE to begin moving a bond ahead even as the election loomed.

Angry residents called into a recent Township Council meeting accusing Deputy Mayor Hurlock, who chairs the BoSE, and its other members of stalling — which he denied, saying school officials had been slow to communicate and unclear in plans they sent, causing unnecessary delays.

Hurlock told Montclair Local Tuesday he was still waiting to hear back from district officials to schedule a next meeting on on the HVAC work. He’d received a request for a BoSE meeting from the district’s business administrator, Nicholas Cipriano, the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 22, he said. On Monday, Oct. 25, Hurlock responded to the request with an offer for a meeting on Thursday, Nov. 4 — in the event Montclair remained a Type I district, and the BoSE still had a role to play — he said.

A meeting on Oct. 25 would not have provided time for proper notice to the public, and board members were not all available the rest of the week, Hurlock said.