NEW YORK, NY April 17, 2007 —It's school board election day in New Jersey, but only 15% of eligible voters are expected to cast ballots. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

More than 1,600 Board of Education seats are at stake in New Jersey's 550 school districts and the fate of billions of dollars of school spending hangs in the balance. This year, districts will try and cap any property tax increase for school spending at 4%.

The state has promised to boost aid to local schools for the first time in five. Last year, voters voted down almost half of all the local school board budgets out of frustration over rising property taxes incurred by escalating school costs.

A Rutgers study identified lagging state aid to public schools as the major cause for higher property taxes. Historically, NJ pays only 38% of the cost of running its public schools, while the national average has states paying at least half of school costs. For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.