Dispatches has been on the Web since yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to post it here. The column is on the outdated concept of school budget votes and the need for reform — written in the wake of the budget defeats in Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick.
I’ll quote from it, as a taste:
It’s why, as part of a larger reform effort, the state needs to change the budget election process. Various proposals have been floated that are designed to increase the generally paltry turnout — consolidating the school vote with the fire district elections and the nonpartisan municipal votes, which take place in May, or moving all elections to November. But no one is willing to admit that allowing voters to cast ballots only on school and fire budgets is itself a problem.
That allows school budgets to be the focus of voter anger — even when municipal spending is a much greater problem, as is the case this year in Monroe and South Brunswick. Municipal officials, of course, play on this anger, constantly reminding voters that school spending accounts for two-thirds of the average tax bill without explaining that schools require significantly more employees and that municipalities have access to an array of revenue not available to schools.
In the end, the budget vote is a sham. Voters go to the polls believing they can avoid a tax increase if they vote against the budget, even though the reality is that defeated budgets rarely result in significant changes in the proposed tax rate.
It creates the illusion of a democratic process and allows taxpayers to sit on their hands the rest of the year, thinking they will get their say in April.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
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Hank Kalet 
\”Voters go to the polls believing they can avoid a tax increase if they vote against the budget\”Not Me. I know full well going in that my vote doesn\’t matter, so I always vote no. There will be some cosmetic changes from the council and it will pass anyway. The only way to possibly get them to keep the school budget down is to let them know the taxpayers aren\’t happy about it. Even that only – hopefully – holds down the rate of increase. Truthfully, if I thought voting the school budget down would actually result in significant cuts I\’d be far more likely to vote for it. I know the town\’s solid school system is good for property values. I just think that any town that has a TV STUDIO! in their high school is not a town that\’s looking out for taxpayers best interests.