Law should be changed to accommodate religious days
This much everyone can agree on: The timing of the school's $52 million bond referendum, scheduled for Sept. 30, which is also the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, is extremely unfortunate. The school board, the state Department of Education (DOE) and, most of all, Edison's Jewish community have made that point quite clear.

Where disagreement comes into sharper focus, however, is what can be done about it. The Jewish community has said that the vote should be held on another, less religious date, but the district says its hands are tied, pointing to the DOE's policy on when referendums can be held. The state, meanwhile, says the district is not bound to the Sept. 30 date, but could schedule it in December, January or March, and that any insinuations otherwise are disingenuous. The district, however, has said that holding the referendum in December presents an unacceptable delay on muchneeded school construction and notes that people can always send in absentee ballots. However, this solution has been unsatisfactory to religious leaders, who say such measures are unreliable.

This is the issue in a nutshell. And this is even assuming that the referendum will actually pass.

While a change in date to, say, a day earlier or later would be the ideal situation for all parties involved, this probably will not happen. It should happen, but it probably won't. So, while religious leaders can, and should, continue to hold reasoned dialogue with the district on getting the date changed, members of the community should be prepared for the board not to budge on this matter.

This preparation should take the form of filling out absentee ballots. Keep them in reserve, and be prepared to send them, should talks fail. At the same time, people should organize and inform residents of the referendum, as well as the date it falls on, and prove wrong the conventional wisdom that absentee ballots will result in lower turnout. The unfortunate timing of the referendum could serve to galvanize the community in this respect.

Meanwhile, everyone should make plans to address the larger problem in this affair, which is legislative in nature. The legislation that established the April school elections contains a measure that allows the vote to be moved in the event that it coincides with a religious holiday, but the bill that allows the Sept. 30 referendum does not. This represents a startling lack of foresight on the part of whoever crafted this legislation, as well as a glaring inconsistency with the law that preceded it. Being able to move the date of a referendum in the event it falls on a day when large numbers of people simply cannot vote is just common sense. The amendment need not be a big change — we can even keep the set dates that the bill already has. Simply add a clause that lets the state move the day forward or back a day in case one of these dates falls on a religious holiday. The DOE can look at the calendar at the beginning of the year and make small changes then.

So, everyone involved with this issue should contact their legislators and urge them to introduce a bill making this minor tweak official state law. This way, we can make sure this never happens again.