The 2012-’13 school budget, set at $161 million, passed by nearly a 2-1 margin in the April 17 school election. Two also topped one in the race for school board as the Plainsboro ticket of incumbent Tony Fleres and newcomer Yibao Xu defeated Quentin Walsh.
In West Windsor, Michele Kaish received nearly 1000 more than her opponent, Peter Abitanto. Kaish will replace John Farrell who chose not to run for re-election.
The budget’s overwhelming approval, 2,090 to 939, and the outcome in Plainsboro suggest that one year after the school budget was defeated, not as many residents of WW-P are opposed to increased school taxes as in the past. Although members of the school board including Richard Kaye, Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz, and Board President Hemant Marathe smiled and congratulated each other as the budget’s approval was announced, the prevailing sentiment was more of a sigh of relief at the board’s regular meeting.
Of the budget for next school year $145 million will come from the local tax ley, reflecting a $1.5 million (or 1.02 percent) decrease from last year’s portion. Both the district’s expenditures and revenues will increase by 1.89 percent budget-to-budget from last year.
Fleres, a design manager with URS Corporation, was elected to his third consecutive term on the school board. He received 706 votes while his running mate Xu (pronounced shoe) received 642 votes. Xu, a mathematics professor at Manhattan Community College, replaces outgoing board member Todd Hochman who chose not to run for re-election.
Challenger Walsh, an outspoken opponent of the district’s financial practices and the husband of current board member Ellen Walsh, received 363 votes. Walsh was against this year’s budget and the year-to-year carry over of surplus in the district, making his position clear at Plainsboro Township Committee meetings and regular school board meetings over the past several years as well as at West Windsor Town Council meetings since last December.
Fleres, who is also the chairman of the school board’s finance committee, says his differences with Walsh on financial matters became a clear distinction for voters. Walsh was disappointed by the outcome, but he says although his bid was not successful it helped push the district to provide more information on subjects such as actual-to-budget costs, what happens with the surplus, community education funds, and movement of funds between general fund levy and debt service levy.
Yibao Xu, who was home with his family when Hurwitz called him with the results, said it helped running with a known candidate. Xu says Fleres’ “deep understanding of school board business” helped the campaign.
“I appreciate that he was willing to run with me as a partner. I think our running together gave the voters in Plainsboro a sense that we can work together on our board for all children in the school district. We will not necessarily agree on all the issues, but we will respect each other’s opinions and come to a consensus while achieving our common goals,” Xu wrote in an E-mail to the WW-P News.
Fleres believes that local election results can be rooted in name recognition. Xu’s active role in the Walker Gordon Farms homeowner’s association and the fact that his son is currently in the third grade in a WW-P school might have contributed to the campaign’s success.
Both Walsh and Xu spent several hours of election day at Plainsboro’s polling center greeting voters. Xu said people vote for many different reasons but his profession as a college professor, his volunteer experience, ethnic background, and personality may have been factors.
Xu thanked Hurwitz for her guidance throughout the campaign, even standing with him and his son at the Plainsboro muncipal building on election day to greet voters.
In a follow-up interview Walsh said it’s too early to decide whether to run again or not. But he says he gained a lot of insight into the opinions of voters by greeting them on election day.
“Several people were saying that they just can’t afford taxes anymore. But the other candidates did a good job of getting their suppoters to the polls. One person observed that this year the turnout in Plainsboro was around nine percent of registered voters, and that was roughly the same as last year. However, it’s interesting because last year Plainsboro taxes were raised by around 4.5 percent and the budget narrowly passed. This year taxes in town went up very little and the budget passed by close to a 2-1 margin,” Walsh said.
Walsh also extended his congratulations to Fleres, Xu, and Michelle Kaish and said he was confident that they will all serve the district well.
In West Windsor Kaish’s supporters spoke of her work as a volunteer in WW-P schools over the past 15 years. With the number of people in the community that supported her campaign, either through letters to the editor in various newspapers or by word of mouth, Kaish became the top vote-getter of the 2012 election. On election night Larry Shanok, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance, complimented Kaish on the number of letters printed in on her behalf.
In an E-mail, Kaish said she enjoyed engaging members of the greater West Windsor community and learning about their concerns and priorities in the school district.
“I am so grateful for the outpouring of support from the West Windsor community. I believe this means the voters had confidence that I will be a hardworking, knowledgeable advocate for quality education and fiscal responsibility,” Kaish wrote.
At the school board meeting on Tuesday, April 17, Kaish sat with her twin sister Denise at her side while receiving constant text messages from friends once 9 p.m. and the end of polling arrived.
With the budget’s overwhelming approval, Kaish thinks the voters recognized that the school district prepared “a responsible budget that maintains valuable programs and continues to support high quality education for our children.”
Abitanto congratulated Kaish “Her years of experience on the PTA and her efforts in the campaign definitely helped her get a tremendous amount of votes, and I was impressed by that. Michele will serve the district well and the school board is lucky to have her,” Abitanto said.
Abitanto hopes to build on his run in this election if he decides to try again. He would not confirm a run in 2013, but he hinted that it is likely.
“Next year another seat will come up, and I’ll take a look at it again. I am committed and I would like to serve on the board, and bring my experience and expertise to the school district,” he said.
Abitanto was encouraged to stay at it as John Farrell, Bob Johnson, and Tony Fleres all stopped to chat with him.
“Some folks have had to run two to three times before getting elected. This year it was good to get my name out there, meet people in the community and learn from the process,” Abitanto said.
Johnson, the board’s vice president and chairman of the administration and facilities committee, has hinted that he will likely not seek re-election when his term expires next year.
Also at the April 17 meeting Board President Hemant Marathe thanked Farrell and Hochman for their service on the school board. Marathe and Johnson both made some good-natured, humorous comments about Hochman, an attorney, and Farrell, who is noted to be short-spoken, and Johnson followed by presenting each with a book as a gift.
