Somers Point school board moves elections to November

Written by SHAUN SMITH Thursday, February 09, 2012 12:20 pm

SOMERS POINT – School board members here will now be elected in November with representatives from local, state and national offices.

The Somers Point Board of Education approved moving the school board elections from April to November at a meeting Thursday, Jan. 19.

The move in effect extends the terms of those seats that would have been up for election in April. According to school business administrator Suzanne Keller, there would have been four open seats – those held by Al Becker, Karen Broomall and Nicholas Wagner, who were elected for three-year terms, and Charles Somers, who is serving a one-year term.

Keller said she was unable to provide figures on how much a school election costs the district or how much the district can expect to save by moving the election date.

Locally the move follows school boards at Mainland Regional High School and Northfield after a law allowing such a move was signed by the governor.

Under the law districts that move their elections and keep their school budget under the 2 percent state cap no longer have to submit their budgets to voters for approval.

Superintendent Jeff Miller said Monday the change would hopefully increase voter turnout and save money.