In addition to choosing candidates this election season, Lakewood voters will decide a public question that could change the size of the township’s Board of Education.

The question appears on the ballot as follows:

“Shall the membership of the Board of Education of the Lakewood School District be reduced from nine (9) members to seven (7) members by filling only one (1) of the three Board member seats whose terms expire on December 31, 2026, resulting in a seven-member Board of Education effective January 1, 2027?”

The official interpretive statement printed with the question explains:

“The Lakewood Board of Education currently consists of nine (9) elected members. Three (3) Board member terms are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2026.

If this question is approved by the voters, only one (1) of those three (3) expiring seats will be filled at the November 2026 election. The remaining two (2) seats will be eliminated, reducing the membership of the Board of Education from nine (9) members to seven (7) members effective January 1, 2027.

No current Board member will be removed from office prior to the expiration of his or her elected term. The Board will thereafter consist of seven (7) elected members serving in accordance with New Jersey law.

A ‘No’ vote will maintain the current nine (9) member Board of Education.”

In short, according to the interpretive statement: a YES vote would shrink the board from nine members to seven as of January 1, 2027, with only one of this year’s three expiring seats being filled; a NO vote would maintain the current nine-member board.

State law (N.J.S.A. 18A:12-12) provides for a board of education to submit the question of increasing or reducing its membership to the district’s voters.

On the same ballot, three Board of Education seats are up for election. Two candidates filed for those seats: Samuel Melnik and Harriet Goldberg, both running under the “Common Sense Leadership” slogan. The third ballot line reads “No Petition Filed.”

Early voting runs through Sunday, November 1, at ten sites across Ocean County, including the Lakewood Municipal Building at 231 Third Street. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, with polls open 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. See our earlier story for the full list of early voting locations and hours.