Referendum date evokes community complaints

By Jason Cohen

August 15, 2008
 

Local Jewish community leaders have expressed confidence that the Edison school board referendum will be moved from its current date of Sept. 30, which is the first day of Rosh Hashanah, to a backup date in December.

"The mayor and senator Buono are working to change the date of the election," community activist Dr. Israel Rifkin told The Jewish State. "I am confident the date will be changed. We are trying our best along with the mayor and the senator and we hope that it will be changed very soon."

Jerry Barca, the director of communications for Edison Mayor Jun Choi said the mayor's position on the conflict is clear.

"We don't believe that the board of education needs to hold the referendum on that day," Barca said.

Last week, Rabbi Dr. Berhard Rosenberg, spiritual leader of Temple Beth-El in Edison, brought to light the fact that the school district's $30 million bond referendum was being held on the holiday. The last time the bond issue was brought to a vote it failed by less than 400 votes. Rosenberg said the large Orthodox Jewish community in Edison by and large opposes the project because it would come with a property tax increase, yet the Orthodox community doesn't use the public school system.

"I found out about this election being on the same day as Rosh Hashanah a month and a half ago, and I warned officials that I would go to war if they put the vote on Rosh Hashanah," Rosenberg said.

If passed, the referendum would allow for the construction of an 83,000-square-foot elementary school on the grounds of the Thomas Jefferson Middle School on Division Street. Also, there will be improvements to Benjamin Franklin School, Woodbrook School, and James Madison School. Each school would receive new classrooms, a new gym, and a conversion of the multipurpose room to a cafeteria with a kitchen that would cost $28 million. If passed it would cost an average homeowner an additional $65 in taxes. 

"In my district where I reside, a large percentage of residents are Orthodox Jews who send their children to private schools for intensive religious and secular education instead of public schools," Rosenberg said. "They have a tendency to vote against this type of referendum since over 50 percent of their local tax dollars go directly to the Board of Education. This applies to most seniors, childless people, and those sending children to private or parochial schools."

Rosenberg said the date of the referendum was not coincidental.

"Having this vote held on a date when a large group of voters cannot vote in person, in my opinion seems to directly connect to the fact that the Board of Education wants this vote to pass," he said. "Without the Orthodox Jewish vote, they have a better chance of passing this referendum."

Although the township noted that Orthodox Jews could vote via absentee ballot, Rosenberg pointed out the unlikelihood of voters utilizing absentee ballots outside of a presidential election. 
Edison Schools Superintendent John DiMuzio said the state chose the day and the Board of Education had nothing to do with it.

"If we had the choice we wouldn't have put it on that date," DiMuzio told The Jewish State. "The New Jersey Department of Education chose that date and the board would be more than willing to change it if we could." 

But Kathryn Forsyth, the director of public information for the state Department of Education said there are four dates during the year that such elections can be held on.

"Each year the annual school elections are held in April and special elections can be held on the fourth Tuesday in January, the second Tuesday in March, the last Tuesday in September, and the second Tuesday in December," Forsyth told The Jewish State.

Forsyth provided The Jewish State with the relevant state bylaws, confirming her statement.

DiMuzio clarified that the board wanted to have the vote as soon as possible after it failed in April.

"The board is trying to get projects done and if it doesn't get passed in September then we would have missed two more months in construction," DiMuzio said. "But we picked the month for the special election, not the date."

The next Edison school board caucus meeting will be held Thursday, Aug. 21, at the Education Center, 312 Pierson Ave., Edison.