How many NJ School Budgets passed in Tuesday nights School Board Elections?
Voters’ decisions yesterday spell teacher layoffs in Monroe and Washington Townships, no new roofs in Mount Holly, and preschool fees in Haddon Township. The recession, as well as late announcements of state and federal stimulus aid, created unusual uncertainty this year as more than 100 districts in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties chose school board candidates and decided on the local contribution to operating budgets. “It’s a tough time for people,” said Superintendent Robert Goldschmidt of Riverside, where voters narrowly rejected two $2 million construction questions but passed the budget, according to early returns. Monroe Schools Superintendent Charles Earling Jr. said he was pleased the local levy on the district’s $82.5 million budget appeared to pass but disappointed a second question funding 20 teachers and freshman sports apparently failed. “We won’t have to go back and have more cuts made by the town,” he said. “But the second question didn’t pass, and that’s 20
Most N.J. school budgets approved But the few that were rejected carry painful consequences, area superintendents said. By Cynthia Henry INQUIRER STAFF WRITER New Jersey voters approved about 73 percent of school budgets Tuesday, but where they said no, the consequences may be painful, local superintendents said yesterday. “Just like families are facing” economic challenges by trimming “their household budgets, that’s exactly what school districts did. And that’s what taxpayers wanted to see,” state Education Secretary Lucille E. Davy said in a news conference yesterday. She attributed the passage of budgets in many districts to lean proposals – such as those in Mount Laurel, Cherry Hill, and Lumberton – that required little or no property tax increases. Voters approved budgets at a rate of 73 percent in Camden County, 72 percent in Burlington County, and 70 percent in Gloucester County. Some budgets, however, were decisively rejected. In Moorestown, Tuesday’s voter disapproval was “ve
