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Rockland County, NY - The East Ramapo Board of Education is seeking to move next year's school board and budget election up a week because the state-designated day conflicts with a Jewish holiday.

The request, which must be approved by the state education commissioner, would not affect any other district.

"A large segment of the population that votes would be affected were the date to remain as it was scheduled by New York state," said Nathan Rothschild, president of the East Ramapo school board.

State education law requires that every public school district in New York hold its budget and school board election the third Tuesday of May. A local school board can request another day, however, if the set date would be a conflict with a religious holiday.

The state-designated alternative voting day is the second Tuesday in May. No other days are legal, according to the School Law handbook.

Next year, the date set for the election - May 18 - is the beginning of Shavuot, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah to Moses.

Although the polls would be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., observant Jews would not be able to vote after sundown, thereby cutting nearly three hours off their polling time.

Asking those who could not get to the polls before sundown to vote by absentee ballot would overburden the clerks who must count the votes, Rothschild said. Moving the date appeared to be the least disruptive of the options.

Last year, nearly 10,000 voters who cast ballots came from the Jewish Orthodox and Hasidic communities, Rothschild said.

The school board voted unanimously Wednesday to ask the district's legal counsel to make formal application to the state to move the date.

Moving government-set deadlines to accommodate religious observance is not unusual, Rothschild pointed out. The IRS has modified the April 15 tax filing deadline if the day occurs during Passover, he said. "There's a precedent to do this," Rothschild said. "Not having the extra time (to vote on Shavuot) is restrictive."

Asking the state to change the voting day must be done by March 1 of the year the election would be held, but East Ramapo's school board decided to start the process as early as possible, Rothschild said.

It usually takes weeks - or months - for decisions like this to be heard and decided by the commissioner. Current Commissioner Richard Mills stepped down at the end of the school year, and an interim is in place while the Board of Regents seeks a new commissioner. Rothschild joked that a decision might not be made by May despite the district's early start.

If the date is moved, then other state-mandated deadlines related to school elections would be moved up a week as well, including adopting a proposed budget, holding a public hearing and accepting school board petitions.