Message from Mayor Madden: A Taxpayer’s Guide to Borough & Board of Education Matters
As a governing body we are tasked by laws, regulations and policy which mandates our course of activity by which we were all elected. In addition we must follow our Code of Conduct which is an integral part of the Bylaws of the Borough Council (adopted by resolution on October 25, 2005) . At the beginning of our Code it states that deliberations must be conducted openly “ in an atmosphere of respect and civility.”
Both I and the members of our Borough Council have received many phone calls and emails over the last two weeks regarding the Board of Education’s decision to delay the return of students to actual classroom instruction due to the high Covid-19 numbers. During our February 9th Council meeting several members of the public demanded that the Council take an exigent position on the School Board’s decision. One resident suggested that, because the Borough collects taxes on behalf of the school, that we withhold payment until they reopen.
Legal Authority
With so much confusion and misinformation regarding the Mayor and Council’s authority concerning decisions made by the Board of Education, I am dedicating this week’s article outlining the legal authority of both our governing body and the Board of Education.
The Laws of the State of New Jersey provide a clear separation of powers between the authority and governance granted to school districts and the authority and governance granted to the Borough. New Jersey Statutes Annotated Title 18A covers all authority of a Board of Education and how the education system functions. School Boards report and receive their guidance and regulations through the NJ State Department of Education.
New Jersey State Statutes Annotated Title 40 covers all authority and governance of local municipal government and how they operate. Boroughs such as Middlesex are constrained exclusively by the authority in Title 40 and receive their guidance through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
These two Statutes clearly demarcate that the Mayor and Council runs Middlesex Borough and the Middlesex Borough Board of Education runs the school district. Again, there is full separation of responsibility, governance, budgets, and reporting structure.
Cooperation
There are only three places where the municipality and the school district by law must cooperate. 1.) Local government must collect property taxes for ALL other entities that rely on these taxes for their budgets. This includes school districts, counties, open space trusts and fire districts ( if a municipality has one ). 2.) Local government MUST pay a school district 100% of the taxes it collects to fund their approved budget even though the municipality does not collect 100% of all property taxes. In other words, if our Municipality has a tax collection rate of 95% we must still, by law, pay the 100% of the School District’s share.
Even though a school board has their own petitions for school board member elections and conduct their own elections, it is the responsibility of the Municipal Clerk as the Chief Election Officer of the municipality to run their elections.
Finally, should a school district fail to pass their budget, the local government has the legal opportunity to suggest cuts to the school budget — only if it is voted down by the residents.
Productive Dialogue
To summarize, local government has no power to compel a School Board to take any action including removing School Board Officials.
We as members of the Governing Body have strong personal opinions, feelings and emotions. As residents and parents we all want our children to go back to school as soon as possible.
Let’s encourage all residents to continue a productive dialog with the School Board and the District’s Administration .
Please stay safe.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you.
Mayor John L. Madden