Mayors pick school board members in these 2 N.J. towns. Election could put an end to that. – NJ.com

With elections for the local board of education underway in most of New Jersey’s 600 school districts, two communities are considering whether they want to begin voting for one in the first place.

Montclair, in Essex County, and Port Republic, in Atlantic County, are among the few remaining New Jersey municipalities where mayors choose members of the local board of education — not the public.

Following the success of citizen-led petitions in each of these towns, voters are being asked to change the classification of the districts to one where its members would be elected. Proponents of an appointed board argue that an elected form of governance is overly political, expensive for candidates, and risks the board being hijacked by single-issue candidates and their voting blocks. Those in favor of an elected board claim the appointed form of governance is inherently undemocratic, breeds dysfunction, and insulates decision makers from the public.

There are 14 “Type I” school districts, where the mayor appoints members to the board of education, in New Jersey, a chief public affairs officer with the New Jersey School Boards Association told NJ Advance Media. The rest of the roughly 600 school districts in the state are “type II” school districts, with voters electing members.

Most people are unaware there are still some holdouts with this form of governance. This may be because many of the remaining type I school districts are rather small, such as Margate City School District, which has an enrollment of less than 400, and Brigantine Public Schools, with an enrollment of under 600.

But that’s not the case everywhere. One of the largest school districts in New Jersey, Trenton Public Schools, is also governed by a board of education appointed by the city’s mayor — that has not been without its own tensions and scrutiny.

Until 2018, this was also the case in the city of Orange, when voters opted to change the way the school district of approximately 5,500 was run.

In a statement sent to NJ Advance Media, Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren said that “while the process of serving on the board was necessarily politicized because service is now based on campaigns and elections rather than appointment, the process also became more democratic.”

“Since a large chunk of taxpayer dollars go to the school district, some felt it fitting that they should choose the policymakers. Separating fame seekers and political hacks from competent public servants will now be in the hands of the voters,” he said.

And thus far, the decision-making has been “uneventful,” said Warren.

“With limited exception, the public has done well choosing our leaders. The transition has been uneventful. The elected board has already hired a new superintendent, expanded schools and adopted budgets. Orange is doing well by its elected board,” he added.

Similar change may be coming to Port Republic, a small town with a population under 2,000. After a successful door-to-door campaign, voters in the Jersey Shore community are putting their form of school governance to a referendum for the first time in the municipality’s 116-year- history.

If approved by voters, the board will be comprised of five members that are elected by voters.

Stanley Kozlowski, interim mayor of Port Republic, said there’s never been a problem with the appointed members of the board of education.

“I think people are just looking for a change and some transparency, that’s all,” Koslowski told NJ Advance Media.

As for whether he supports an appointed or elected form of governance, Koslowski wouldn’t specify.

“If you study the advantages and disadvantages, there really are shades of grey between the two,” he said.

In Montclair, this year’s referendum is far from the first. The issue has gone to the ballot five times since the 1960s, and each time, voters have opted to keep an appointed board. The most recent referendum question, in 2009, was defeated 57% to 43%, according to public records.

“People don’t expect this in Montclair. It’s a town that likes to think of itself as having a progressive civic life but lot of the status quo is built on a denial of basic voting rights and a denial of competitive elections,” said Erik D’Amato, founder of Vote Montclair, a political committee at the forefront of the campaign.

The current system of governance means the power to appoint board members rests with Mayor Sean Spiller, also the current president (and erstwhile vice president) of the New Jersey Education Association, the powerful union representing teachers and support staff. D’Amato and other supporters of an elected school board point to this as a potential conflict of interest but Spiller has defended both his ability and legal right to perform these duties.

In response to a request for comment on the referendum, Spiller directed NJ Advance Media to a public statement he made on the subject in April, in which he stated, “whether I as Mayor, or any Mayor should appoint members of the Board of Education, or whether those Board members should be chosen directly by residents is not a decision I can make.”

“Voters can and should be entrusted to decide for themselves what mechanism for naming members of the Board of Education will best serve students, residents, and taxpayers. Even when there are differing opinions, I believe that everyone shares the ultimate goal of preserving our world class public schools,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Spiller said he “would be fully supportive of moving to an elected Board of Education.”

If a majority of voters vote yes, the Board of Education would change from a seven-member board appointed by the mayor to a nine-member elected board.

A few public figures in the community have come out in support of an elected board. Current councilor-at-large Peter Yacobellis penned an open letter on his website earlier this month where he disclosed he would be voting to change Montclair’s school district to a type II district. Yacobellis encouraged other voters in the town to do the same.

“As I look at the statistics that show us having the lowest enrollment in 22 years, the eye-popping turnover of superintendents, business administrators and other leaders, the persistent education equity issues, and the unbelievable deterioration of our buildings; it’s clear to me that this system is broken and needs a tectonic jolt,” he said.

Former school board member Sergio Gonzalez, whom Spiller passed over for reappointment this year, has also been vocal about his support for an elected board. During a virtual panel discussion this month, Gonzalez said an elected board will allow for a direct connection to individual constituents and put the decision-making power back in the hands of residents.

“The status quo, keeping it the way it is, is a vote for failure,” Gonzalez said.

Diane Anglin, education committee chair for the Montclair NAACP, said she would also be backing an elected school board.

“I don’t want to put any blame on the appointed board…but I think that we’ve done something for so many years, it’s time to change and get some new input into this process,” said Anglin in a forum discussion this month.

Standing in stark opposition to these voices is the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, which is urging residents to vote no on the referendum with the slogan, “focus on education, not on campaigns.” A statement on the group’s website describes an appointed board as the “best avenue to continue the improvement in educational outcomes for all the children in Montclair.”

The League also argues that a mayor-appointed board can in some ways be less political than an elected one, and that an elected board isn’t necessarily a more representative one.

D’Amato called that stance both “offensive and infantilizing,” countering that the election-related drama the League wanted to avoid was a basic tenet of normal, functioning democracy.

“Among all towns in New Jersey, we’re the ones who can’t handle having a normal school board election? Give me a break,” he said.

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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com or on Twitter @JacqueRoman.