Interest in N.J. school boards is waning

If there's an election for school board and no one is on the ballot, what happens?

One tiny Camden County school district, Magnolia, doesn't want to find out.

Magnolia, a 4,500-resident town with 475 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, has four open seats in Tuesday's school board election. But it has only one candidate on the ballot.

Barring three write-in candidates, Magnolia faces a second straight year with at least one vacant seat. That's why it put a question on the ballot asking voters to shrink the school board from nine to seven members.

"It's the times," School Board President Karen Sorbello said. "Both parents are working, and they're not volunteering as they used to."

Magnolia and Deerfield, Cumberland County, are the only districts in the state with such a question on the ballot, but they're far from the only districts having trouble enough attracting candidates.

Hi-Nella, which does not have its own schools but collects taxes and has representation on the boards of its receiving districts, has two candidates for three seats. Berlin Township, a pre-K-to-eighth-grade district, also has two candidates for three seats.

Berlin Township school board member Deanna Reilly, who is running for reelection, said last year's ballot also had too few candidates; a write-in candidate won the third seat. This year is Reilly's third time running for a three-year term; only the first race was competitive.

"A lot of people don't know what a school board is or what we do," Reilly said. "And the second thing is time. A lot of people don't have the time to dedicate."

One board meeting dealing with a new dress policy packed the house, Reilly said, but about 60 percent of meetings have no public attendance.

And that disinterest continues at the polling place. She said that about 200 people, or 5 percent of registered voters, tend to participate in the spring school elections.

Statewide, voter turnout has averaged around 14 percent, ranging from 7 to 19 percent since 1983, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.

But the ratio of candidates to open seats appears to be decreasing, dropping from 1.48 candidates for every open seat in 1996 to 1.33 candidates this year.

Only 11 of the 38 districts in Camden County have competitive school board races this year. In Black Horse Pike Regional, seven candidates are seeking three seats, and in Haddon Heights, eight candidates are vying for three spots.

But in the remaining districts, the number of candidates matches the available seats - including in two large districts, Cherry Hill and Winslow.

One district - Camden - has no candidates because it is controlled by the state and two-thirds of its board members are appointees.

Regardless of whether many candidates are running, all districts have their proposed school budget and possibly other spending questions, such as school construction, on the ballot. Most polls are open from 2 to 9 p.m.

In districts with open seats and no candidates, write-ins are always an option. One write-in vote can win it, and "that write-in vote can be your own," said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

"I think it's an important job," Reilly said. "We are making a positive difference, and it makes it all worthwhile to me."