Galloway Township School District Eyes March Referendum Following Last Week's Defeat

voted unanimously to look into holding a March referendum following the of last week’s proposal at its meeting on Dec. 19 at the

One board member even suggested going to the New Jersey Department of Education commissioner if the referendum is defeated again.

“I called the NJSB and I spoke to an attorney and I spoke to a legislative director, and they said we don’t even have to go through a referendum for the stuff that needs to be done,” Board Member Bob Iannacone said. “We can just go right to the education commissioner and he can approve it without a referendum. I don’t want to have to do that. I want to go out to referendum, but if it fails again, I would suggest going to the commissioner.”

Going out for referendum would cost $15,000.

Board Member John Knorr believes a proposal has to fail twice in order for the commissioner to pass it going out for a referendum. A similar situation took place in Upper Freehold Township in 1979.

According to njlegallib.rutgers.edu, the Board of Education in that district petitioned the Education Commissioner for the funds to replace the roof at Allentown High School after a referendum was defeated by the voters in that district, and the Education Commissioner approved those funds in the amount of $1,643,000.

A State Legislative Judge ruled this was acceptable on July 10, 1979, stating that “the broad powers conferred by the Legislature on the Commissioner and the duty of the Commissioner to provide for a thorough and efficient school system justify a Commissioner’s decision to take corrective action.” In that situation, three referendums were defeated by the voters of that district.

Last week’s $5.6 million proposal concerning roof replacement at , and elementary schools, fire alarm replacement for Smithville, Roland Rogers and , and drainage system and parking lot improvements for Arthur Rann was defeated 877-869, a difference of eight votes, after provisional ballots were tallied. Initially, it appeared as though the proposal would be defeated by just three votes, 821-818.

The tax impact on voters would've been $14.42 for residents with a home assessed at $100,000, and $28.84 for homes assessed at $200,000.

“If we lost by hundreds of votes, I would not recommend going out to referendum in March,” Galloway Township Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto said.

She said that because the vote was so close, she feels it has a chance to pass should it go back out to referendum, but all members of the board agreed more had to be done.

“We need to ramp things up,” Giaquinto said. “We have to maybe do a video for GTV and go out to groups in person.

“If people with a vested interest in the schools don’t vote, those who vote no just to vote no will have an impact on our children. We need to do more and we need to be more active. There have to be more yes votes with 3,500 children in our school district.”

Board Member Eileen Kasunich believes that the events board members attend and mediums they use to spread the message only reach those who would already be voting.

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Kasunich said. “We need to spread the message out more, with more information.”

Giaquinto recommended the formation of an advisory group to help spread the word. She also pointed to the efforts of the Rotary Club and Galloway Township Councilwoman Whitney Ullman to rally behind Roland Rogers Third Grade Teacher Terry Dougherty in her successful effort to win the Great American Teach-Off and the $10,000 grant that comes with it last month.

“We need the same kind of excitement for our roof,” Giaquinto said.

The Board discussed tackling misinformation about the budget.

“The questions people have, we know the answer to, but a lot of people don’t have a clue,” Kasunich said. “ … We have to send out more exact information because people are believing incorrect information.”