State Senator Raj Mukherji has agreed to amend a bill that would have seen the majority of the Jersey City Board of Education trustees appointed after public backlash this week.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Mukherji was the only sponsor for Bill S-4686, which would call for first class cities in New Jersey, like Jersey City, to have three school board members appointed by the mayor, three appointed by the city council, and three elected by voters.
Currently, all nine Jersey City school board members are elected in non-partisan elections in November and the potential change was not welcome by several other local politicians, such as Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a candidate for mayor.
“The political machine wants to take control away from the people by moving to an appointed school board, and this is an outrageous, undemocratic attack on our community that I will stop as Mayor,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“The people of Jersey City deserve the right to choose our own elected leaders, and we won’t let the political machine dictate to us who will run our public schools. We will not sit back and let our community be disenfranchised, and we will do everything in our power to fight back and protect Jersey City’s fundamental right to remain a democracy.”
O’Dea also unveiled an online petition to bolster opposition to the proposal, which came after he and one of his council-at-large candidates, Kristen Zadroga Hart, wrote an editorial in the Jersey City Times panning the idea.
Jersey City BOE Trustee Dejon Morris, another ally of O’Dea – who is endorsed by the Jersey City Education Association – wrote an HCV editorial that was even more adamantly opposed to the bill.
Today, Mukherji, who represents about two thirds of Jersey City and all of Hoboken, said his bill was introduced on June 30th “for discussion purposes, in response to concerns raised by a group of parents regarding school board discord that failed to put our children first or address property tax hikes.”
He also said his intention would have been to make it so the bill would have only three school board members appointed, recommended by the mayor with the consent of the council.
A joint statement from Mukherji and JCEA President Ron Greco expresses a willingness to work together and find a happy medium in the coming months.
“We agree on the need for improved coordination between the Board of Education and our City Council and municipal appropriators,” they began.
“The JCEA and Senator Mukherji, whose longtime advocacy for school funding is deeply appreciated by our educators, have agreed to work together over the summer and discuss ways to amend the bill and achieve the goals without reducing directly elected representation on the school board. The possibilities include a minority of City Council appointees or adding a non-voting Board member from city government.”
This afternoon, O’Dea, who said he got Mukherji and Greco to speak on this topic, commended the state senator, who has endorsed former Gov. Jim McGreevey for mayor, for agreeing to pump the brakes on this piece of legislation.
“Any attempt to disenfranchise Jersey City voters is unacceptable, so I’m glad to see that this bill will not be advancing and thank Senator Mukherji for listening to the people. Now I’m hopeful that we can all work together to restore the $250 million in state aid that has been cut from our schools,” he said.
