Meanwhile, elsewhere… FOR DEBATE: WHO PICKS SCHOOL BOARD

 

By WINNIE HU | New York Times

November 1, 2009 -- MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- THE hot button in Tuesday’s election in this school-obsessed suburb is not Democrat or Republican, Corzine or Christie, but something closer to home: Who gets to choose the school board?

Montclair, whose system of magnet schools has become a national model of racial integration, has one of the few remaining appointed boards in New Jersey (4 percent of school boards nationally are appointed).

A group of residents who felt the board ignored their concerns about school budgets and policies put a referendum on Tuesday’s ballot on whether to make the board elected, like those in 550 other New Jersey districts. A countergroup formed to defend the appointment process, and lines were drawn at farmers’ markets, parks and coffeehouses, in the local newspaper and on blogs.

“It’s out of control,” said Ofira Bondorowsky, 35, a mother of two boys who wants an elected board. “There are people who are getting a lot of heat from their friends.”

The school board issue has divided a township of about 37,000, whose voters have rebuffed four previous efforts to change to an elected board, the last time in 1995, by more than 2 to 1. The debate has caught on again, amid frustration over rising property taxes and an influx of newcomers who moved to Montclair largely for its schools and want more say over everything from budgets to principal selection.

Such campaigns have become more common in a tough economy, as parents with school-age children join forces with others to gain more control over the single largest expense for suburban communities: education. About 77 miles southwest of Montclair, Beverly residents will also vote on Tuesday on whether to switch from an appointed to an elected school board. In Brick Township on the Jersey Shore, which already holds direct school elections, voters unhappy with school spending helped to defeat a $172 million plan for school repairs in a September referendum.

Similarly, busing costs drove two New York districts, Blind Brook, in Westchester County, and Commack, on Long Island, to hold referendums last spring on transporting fewer students (both proposals failed). And more generally, anti-tax sentiments spurred homeowners in Evans, near Buffalo, to vote to downsize their town board next year to three members from five.

“People are feeling that they have lost their voice, and it’s reaching a point where it’s becoming unacceptable,” said Jerry Cantrell, president of the New Jersey Taxpayers Association, who blames school boards — elected and appointed — for failing to keep taxes in check.

But school superintendents and board members say the frustration over school spending is misdirected. They say they have little control over the fixed costs, like salaries and utilities, that make up more than three-quarters of school budgets. In many states, wealthy districts like Montclair get less state aid; and in suburbs with few businesses, homeowners carry the tax burden.

The 6,700-student Montclair district spends an average of $15,101 per student, slightly higher than the state average of $14,359. But state aid accounts for 9 percent of the district’s revenue, and local taxes, 86 percent, compared with a state average of 39 percent and 52 percent, respectively. The district raised its budget 3.3 percent this year to $113 million, the smallest increase in years, school officials said. Montclair homeowners faced a comparable increase in their property tax bills, to an average of $15,587.

Montclair’s school board has seven members, appointed by the mayor to unpaid three-year terms. There is no public vote on the budget. It is approved, instead, by a Board of School Estimate, which consists of the mayor and two members each from the school board and the elected Township Council.

“It’s too incestuous here,” Ms. Bondorowsky said. “There’s really no healthy debate going on. They’re all kind of connected, and it is one big party, you know?”

Jerry Fried, the mayor, acknowledged that the school board could communicate more about its decisions, and he is creating a nominating committee to involve more residents in selecting members. But he and some current school board members say the appointment system lets them focus on policy, not politics.

“This is not prime-time TV,” said Shirley Grill, 61, a business consultant who is serving her second term. “There’s a lot of deliberation, but I think they think we’re not doing anything because it’s quiet, it’s done.”

Shelly Lombard, 50, a financial analyst also in her second term, said many of the people raising concerns about the budget also worried about losing the best teachers to better-paying districts. “I think this notion that we can automatically wave a wand and keep the budget down is unrealistic,” she said.

But Michael Villella, 43, an engineering consultant who pays about $10,000 a year in school taxes, said too much was spent on administration. At Watchung elementary school, which his two daughters attend, Mr. Villella said parents are asked to buy basic supplies like paper towels, tissues, markers and glue sticks.

“The joke is, next year we’re going to have to buy the textbooks,” he said.

Supporters of an appointed school board — including the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area — counter that school board elections statewide typically draw less than 15 percent of voters, and that they would cost the town $50,000 a year. They worry that an elected board would attract only candidates willing to campaign, and that it could be hijacked by special-interest groups or parents who want to return to a system of neighborhood schools.

Since 1977, Montclair’s system of 10 magnet elementary and middle schools and one high school has built a reputation for integration and reducing the achievement gap between racial groups. Today’s student body is 36 percent black, 7 percent Hispanic and 6 percent Asian.

“There are a lot of new people who don’t know the history of Montclair and the long, difficult struggle we went through to get to this point,” said Carolyn Lack, 80, a spokeswoman for Montclair’s League of Women Voters.

Advocates for an elected board include longtime residents like Thomas Russo, the former police chief, and Pegi Adam, who says she does not want to change the magnet system — just to be included in decisions. “The reason people live in a small town is so they can participate,” she said.

Ms. Adam handed out fliers the other night at a town debate on the school board issue that drew, among others, nine Boy Scouts taking notes for merit badges in citizenship and communication. Seven of the Scouts said they favored an appointed board.

“We have a lot of special programs and field trips that wouldn’t be possible without high budgets,” said Abe Kolko, 13, an eighth grader at Glenfield Middle School. “Compared to a lot of places in the country, we have a relatively wealthy economic situation, and I think we can afford it.”