N.J. Assembly to vote today on changing school budget laws

The New Jersey Assembly is to vote today on a bill to eliminate most school budget votes and move school board elections to coincide with the November general election.

The measure, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden), is designed to reduce the number of elections and save money.

School board candidates would run on the November general election ballot. Votes on local school budgets would be eliminated except when a budget proposal exceeds a state-mandated limit.

The bill comes after April's school elections drew just 14 percent of eligible voters. Turnout for school elections has not topped 20 percent in the past 25 years.

The state's largest teachers' union supports eliminating votes on budgets but opposes moving school elections to November.