Thirteen New Jersey school districts held annual school elections on Tuesday, April 17, electing board members and, in twelve districts, voting on proposed school budgets.
Proposed budgets were approved in the following districts: Cliffside Park, Fairview, Hackensack, Irvington, Neptune Township, New Brunswick, Oakland, Passaic, Totowa, and Weehawken. Budgets were rejected in Garfield and North Bergen.
Newark had its first election of school board members in more than two decades this year. The district, formerly under state control, has voted for members of an advisory board since the mid-1990s. Newark’s new board of education will have the authority to hire its own superintendent. As part of the transition from a district under state control to one under local control, Newark did not have a proposed budget on the ballot this year.
Since 2012, when boards were first permitted to move their annual school election to the date of the November general election, the vast majority of New Jersey districts (530) have moved their election date. Districts that have November elections are not required to put proposed budgets on the ballot.