Governor Murphy Signs Executive Order Extending Statutory Deadlines for School Districts Whose Elections Were Moved from April to May

TRENTON — Governor Phil Murphy today signed Executive Order No. 116, extending certain statutory deadlines for school districts with elections in May, including 1) the governing body of the municipality presenting and certifying a tax levy to the county board of taxation and 2) districts giving notice to nontenured teaching staff members whether they will be employed for the following year. Governor Murphy previously signed Executive Order No. 105, which postponed school board elections scheduled for April 21, 2020 until May 12, 2020.

“To ensure that New Jerseyans can safely exercise their right to vote, we postponed our school board elections scheduled for April until May,” said Governor Murphy. “As a result of this change, we’re providing impacted school districts and municipalities with ample time to make informed decisions regarding budgets and employment of nontenured teaching staff by extending these important deadlines.”

Governor Murphy’s Executive Order makes the following changes:

• Extends deadline for certifying tax levy to county tax board:  If a proposed school budget is rejected by the voters on May 12, the May 19 deadline for presenting and certifying the tax levy to the county board of taxation is extended by three weeks to June 9.  This gives the municipal government the same amount of time that it would normally have to respond to the vote and make adjustments to the budget.

• Extends deadline for notifying nontenured staff:  For districts with elections being moved from April 21 to May 12, their deadline to give notice to nontenured teaching staff members about their employment for the following year is extended by three weeks from May 15 to June 5.  This will give districts time, following a budget vote on May 12, to plan for the following year and set employment levels accordingly.  The deadline for nontenured teaching staff members to accept such an offer of employment will be changed from June 1 to June 22.

• Extends school board terms:  School board members whose statutory terms were set to expire following the April election will have their terms extended until the election in May.

The Order will take effect immediately.

A copy of the Executive Order No. 116 can be found here.