BOE May Change Its Mind on School Election Vote

In light of new information indicating an April election could be significantly more expensive, the Moorestown board of education will reconsider its .

The board will meet in executive session beginning at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the and then convene the public portion of the meeting at some point thereafter. The exact time was not immediately available Wednesday.

The board will meet exclusively to discuss, and potentially vote on, the school election change.

The board voted at the beginning of the month to keep the school election in April. Board Member Kevin O'Sullivan was one of five members who voted against moving it, because doing so would also mean taking away the public's ability to vote on the budget.  

He said school elections are the “one last bastion where (the public) can exercise their right to vote” on a budget.

Under the new legislation, districts would not have to seek voter approval on the budget as long as it remained under the 2 percent cap.  

However, O'Sullivan said the board began to reconsider its earlier decision after learning it would likely be much more expensive to keep the election in April.

Moorestown is one of only a few districts (out of 39) in Burlington County that didn't move the election. School elections are run by the county, which passes the cost on to the districts, according to business administrator Lynn Shugars. 

When 39 districts were sharing the expense, it only cost Moorestown about $20,000. O'Sullivan said the number is projected to be much higher now with so few sharing the cost, though he could not provide a specific number.

Mayor John Button during a council meeting Monday and asked the township clerk to draft a resolution to move the school election—which new legislation allows the township to do—to November. Council was supposed to consider the resolution at a budget workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday at .