“This year, the election occurred during school vacation, in spite of efforts for mail in ballots, you cannot expect high turnout.
We need to vote on school budget; much more transparency, more hearings, more public scrutiny.and more important, we need to vote on candidates. Ever since the vote was moved from April to Nov years ago, not one contested election. Is that voter participation? Lets see how it goes next year, when there will be an actual choice of members of the Bd of Ed.
“It’s hard to assign a “good” or “bad” label on turnout levels. A few benchmarks though, for comparison, of total votes cast in Ridgewood:
– 2019 School election (Apr): 2,473 total votes cast (unofficial)
– 2018 Midterm election (Nov): 11,400 total votes cast for U.S. Senate
– 2018 Midterm election (Nov): 7,663 total votes cast for Ridgewood BOE
– 2016 Presidential election (Nov): 13,308
– 2016 BOE election (Nov): 8,650
So it seems clear that expecting 3x, perhaps even 4x, the turnout by moving the BOE vote (and Village Council vote) to November is a reasonable expectation.”
Continue reading Reader says ,”“It’s hard to assign a “good” or “bad” label on turnout levels”
the staff of the Riddgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to voter turn out data the average April turnout for Board of Education Elections is actually higher since 2007 than November . Average April turnout is 21% and November is 16%.
This disproves the Board of Ed assertions to the contrary . A reader commented ,” The figures do not support a higher turn out in November. Over the last several years of compiling figures it shows the reverse. In 2016 when it was a presidential election, the numbers were up but not significantly so. Down ballot voting is almost always .lower. The issue for many is that when the Board of Education elections were moved to November, we lost the ability to vote on the budget. When that happens, it is harder to advocate for budgetary items you are for or against. There are fewer presentations and fewer people holding seats choose to listen. We also have seen many uncontested candidates elections. Incumbents keep their seats with little to no challenge. “
Also of interest is that studies made before the move in 2013 concluded that there would be a lack of interest which could result in uncontested BOE Candidate elections . This proved to be true.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, just days after the Ridgewood Board Ed $111 million dollar budget vote a group of Ridgewood residents lead by Councilmen jeff Voigt is already trying to take the ability to vote on the budget away from residents .
In Voigt’s letter to the Ridgewood News he spells out the case for not voting .
The irony is he claims the $50 thousand or so is lot of money to spend on voting for an $111 million dollar budget ,which accounts for over 60% of property taxes Village of Ridgewood and of coarse there is no mentionn of the self serving law suit filed by Board of Ed members paid for with tax payer money looking to prolong their terms . Our suggestion would be the BOE members should pay back the money spent on the law suit .We are sure it will cover the budget vote .
Posted byswinogradApril 24, 2019
Last Tuesday, April 16, 2019, only fourteen percent of Ridgewood’s eligible voters participated in an off-cycle election (defined as any election not held in November) on the Ridgewood Public School budget for the 2019-2020 school year. This election cost Ridgewood taxpayers $50,000.
Continue reading New Ridgewood Group Set Up to Take Your Right to Vote Away
” Has identity politics come to this, where being a boy is now a special needs category? Yes classroom learning seems better suited to the female temperament and the disproportionate success of girls in K-12 proves that out. I was one of those boys who hated school, cut classes, treated it as a joke. I grew out of it. Most do. Let’s not dumb the system down any further to coddle to boys. “
Ridgewood Schools are great and performance is not declining in comparison to Tenefly and Summit and other schools. I really wish this person would stop with the fake news. By nthe way, all these school districts are great and all our taxes are high. Ridgewood is not some kind of outlier and we are not declining. Be upset about high taxes but stop with the BS that we are somehow worse than we are. The problem is with the STATE of NJ, and NY and CT and Mass, and the entire northeast.
Tenefly=20,920 per student Ridgewood= 20,481 Summit=20,529 Princeton= 25,194 Glen Rock= 21,009
Tenefly:
2016-17 Total Spending: $77,250,029
2016-17 Costs Amount per Pupil: $20,920
Ridgewood:
2016-17 Total Spending: $117,443,609
2016-17 Costs Amount per Pupil: $20,481
Summit:
2016-17 Total Spending: $84,530,788
2016-17 Costs Amount per Pupil: $20,529
Princeton:
2016-17 Total Spending: $94,715,589
2016-17 Costs Amount per Pupil: $25,194
Glen Rock:
2016-17 Total Spending: $52,944,004
2016-17 Costs Amount per Pupil: $21,099
cost per student by STATE: NY is highest followed by Washington DC, Connecticut and then NJ
https://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html
in NJ the forth highest in the country we are not unusual yet we are one of the best school districts
https://www.state.nj.us/education/guide/
It is the indifference of residents that is killing this town. Spring break or no spring break, those who are interested to vote would have found a way to do it. People who move here anew just do not care to get involved in local issues. They come mainly from metropolitan area and have the typical indifferent mindset. They are under the false impression that everything is prefect in this place they chose to live especially the schools. Half the village has no idea what high density housing is and how the place is being transformed into a mini city or how the RHS is approaching 2000 students and is the size of a small college.
Developers and narrow minded local politicians love this kind of place where they can easily make $$$ without any major trouble.
211 voter spread yes vs no
we had a chance to send a message of constraint but the non voters
in an ironic way let the spenders spend.
it’s not their fault individually but when the tax bill comes
non voters dig deep into a pocket of regrets.
towns spending and BOE BUDGETS non sustainable
and is a runaway train signaling time to paint and sell.
wait till the developers get ahold of valley campus..schools
will be flooded with new children.
9 out of 19 districts voted majority “No”. Absentee ballots accounted for 3/4 of the margin of victory for “Yes”. The B of E was nearly embarrassed here.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, decision time ,today is the vote on the 2019-2020 $111 million school budget , Your vote on Tuesday, April 16 will help determine the funding for the Ridgewood school district’s programs, staffing and facilities maintenance expenditures for the upcoming school year. Schools will be closed for students and staff but polls will be open from 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education has approved an enormous $111.6 million budget .
Continue reading $111 million Ridgewood School Budget Vote Today
I wonder what voter turnout will be like when Election Day is during the schools’ spring break. It almost feels like the BOE really didn’t want this election. Hmmmm
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
The 2019-2020 Ridgewood Public Schools budget will be voted on by registered voters in the Annual School Election on Tuesday, April 16. Polls will be open 6 a.m.-8 p.m. OR, vote by mail! The walk-in application deadline is Monday, April 15 at 3 p.m. See below for more information.
” Ridgewood school district is great, but recent increases in Budget driven by employee medical benefits and special ed. Meanwhile school rankings are dropping compared to competitors.
I know very little about educating kids except that it’s an extremely tough job. However I do know quite a bit about budgeting. It’s imperative to always question how $ is spent, otherwise it will be spent with less care than warranted. Voting no therefore makes sense in this case, as the board did not address concernes posed above.
Many parents defend the educators by questioning the no vote, but this is not a educators vs parents story. Rather it’s an action point for BoE to regain public trust by acknowledging raised issues and proposing solutions. I doubt there’s a resident who wishes bad upon our great educators, so let’s not confuse the issues. “
” I will vote NO not only because I am not convinced it is being allocated and spent wisely but also because is see some suspicious people with ties to past controversial VC who are pushing a YES in local FB pages and doing it very actively. They have their personal reasons for this which do not resonate with mine.
Somebody last night recommended a YES vote so that our property values remain high. If this is correct then we are living in a bubble which will burst with sh!t all over the place. “
Ridgewood NJ, The Sample Ballot for the April 16 School Election lists inaccurate polling times.
Important!
Polls will be open
6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
on Tuesday, April 16
Please vote on Tuesday, April 16
Continue reading Ridgewood Schools $111 Million Budget Vote Poll Information
