School reforms cut back in Senate Elections to stay put under third revision Thursday, February 01, 2007 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL• Star-Ledger Staff State senators nearing the end of their seven-month effort to rein in property taxes have stripped down a plan to require greater accountability by local school officials. The new bill (S19) abandons plans to move school board elections to November and gives local officials the chance to appeal budget cuts imposed by a newly created executive county superintendent. The bill was introduced yesterday and is scheduled for final Senate consideration on Monday. It is the third version of this reform bill to be proposed in the Senate since December. Two previous versions have been bottled up by the Senate Democratic caucus, where some members -- who also hold local government jobs -- have opposed the broad oversight powers the bill gives the new executive county superintendents. The proposed bill is among the last elements of a package of tax reform measures working their way through the Legislature. Along with the revised school finance bill, senators on Monday are scheduled to consider final legislative approval of a $2 billion tax credit and property tax cap bill (S20), plus a controversial plan to eliminate pension benefits for future elected officials and bar officials elected after next February from holding more than one office (S17). Since convening a special session last summer to devise ways to rein in local government spending and property taxes, the Legislature has grappled with dozens of versions of reform measures. Most, like S19, have emerged weaker than when first introduced. Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, who proposed the reforms included in S19 months before the Legislature's special session began, said he could accept the scaled-down version awaiting Senate consideration as long as it ends up creating the new county superintendent's post. "The centerpiece of this bill has always been creating newly empowered county superintendents so they can be agents of change and really allow us to save money," Roberts said. "That's preserved in the legislation, and I think that's the element I consider most important." Under the revised bill, the new executive county superintendents will still have authority to comb through local school budgets and trim out excessive administrative spending. A new provision in the bill would let local officials appeal those budget changes to the state education commissioner, who would have 15 days to overrule the county superintendent. The new Senate version of the reform bill also abandons earlier attempts to move school and fire district elections to November, a change supporters said would increase participation in school board elections and budget votes. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com. © 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.