Rochester for Chesterfield Board of Education
Andrew Rochester
for Chesterfield Board of Education
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
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I am proud to announce that I am running for a second term on the Chesterfield Township Board of Education.
It has been an interesting three (3) years. Much progress has been made but there is always have room for improvement.
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What has been accomplished over the last three (3) years?
- The school's finances are stabilized but there still is work to be done. Our tax levy increases have been quite small compared to our neighboring districts and compared to the other governmental units that make up your property tax bill. In fact, Chesterfield Elementary School's share of your property tax bill today is less than it was 5 years ago. With that said, we are facing more cuts in state aid as our enrollment declines.
- The school's leadership has stabilized. The administrative team and the Board of Education team work well together cooperatively tackling the issues that we face.
- Our pre-school expansion is up and running saving a lot of money for parents who have pre-school aged children and for Chesterfield taxpayers as a whole. Our pre-K program is only getting better as we keep expanding it to reach all pre-K families who want to attend.
- Our school curriculum has been updated in all the major subject areas and is constantly being fine-tuned to address each and every new mandate from Trenton.
What are the challenges?
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Our biggest challenge is going to be financial. Unless more money is appropriated by Trenton, our declining K-6 enrollment means declining aid from the state. Our pre-school expansion helps but we still have work to do. Fortunately, we have saved from the good years to mitigate what will need to be done in the lean years ahead.
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From my position on our Finance Committee, we are looking forward not just to the 2025-26 school year but the year after. We are looking at ways to save, efficiencies that can be made and staffing allocation to make sure that we are providing the best education possible with the resources at hand. In an audit conducted last year of our Special Services Department, we found ways to save through more efficient usage of staffing without effecting the quality of services provided to our student body.
Another issue that I have been working on is school climate, discipline and harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB). I have just been appointed to the Board's Code of Conduct Committee where we will be looking to complete the new, revised Code of Conduct.
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I hope that over the last three years that I have earned your trust and that you will allow me the privilege of serving Chesterfield for another three years.
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If you ever have a question or concern, please email me and come to the Board meetings. Democracy only works if we all participate. To find out when the next Board meeting is, please check out the CES webpage.
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Andy
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​NOTICE: Although I am a member of the Chesterfield Township Board of Education. All opinions expressed herein are my own and are not those of the Board of Education or its members. Nothing expressed herein should be considered a statement of Board policy.
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- Transparency
- Stability
- Focus on the
fundamentals
About Andrew (Andy)
Family:
- Married almost 15 years to Abby
- Father of 2 Chesterfield sixth graders
- 12 year resident of Chesterfield
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Education:
- East Brunswick High School - 1987
- Cornell University - BS Industrial and Labor Relations - 1991
- Boston University School of Law - JD 1994
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School Leadership Positions:
- Vice President for Legislation of the Burlington County School Board Association (2024-present)
- Voting Delegate to the New Jersey School Board Association General Assembly (2023-preeent)
- Chesterfield Delegate to the Burlington County School Board Association (2023-present)
- Chair of the District Advisory Committee (2023-present)
- Chair of the Staff Appreciation Committee (2024-2025)
- Chair of the Negotiations Committee (2025-present)
- Current Member of the Board of Education Finance Committee (2025-present)
- Current Member and Former Chair of the Board of Education Policy Commitee (2023-present)
- Current member of the Code of Conduct Committee (2025-present)
- Former Chair and Member of the Board of Education Human Resources Commitee (2023-2025)
- Certified New Board Member by the New Jersey School Board Association Board Member Academy (In January 2026, I will receive an additional certification as a Certified Board Member)
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Professional:
- Partner at Morgenstern & Rochester in Cherry Hill. M & R is a firm that concentrates in family law. Andrew has appeared in courts throughout New Jersey and at all levels including the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
- Andrew volunteers for South Jersey Legal Services and has taught classes at Providence House for victims of domestic violence
- Andrew is active in several professional organizations and is a Master Emeritus in the Thomas S. Forkin Family Law American Inns of Court
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Personal:
- Andrew enjoys spending time with his children driving them from activity to activity, reading and watching too much science fiction.
- Andrew is a Steelers season ticket holder although he only gets to a couple of games each year.
- Andrew is also a member of Board of Directors of Temple Bnai Abraham in Bordentown.
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Why I Am Running for Re-Election to the Board
When I first ran for office three years ago, I looked at our school as the parent of two third graders. We were just coming out of a pandemic and I had real concerns about how that was handled. I saw a great school, in an incredible community, that had a lot of potential. My goal was to make sure to tap that potential so that all CES students get the best education possible to prepare them for the future.
I now look at our school through the lenses of a parent of two sixth graders who will be looking to middle school in a year. What do they need to move on and to succeed at Northern Burlington. I see our school's potential from the perspective of an insider and I know what we are doing right and what we can be doing better.​
Candidly, we face challenges, mostly financial. Our state aid is now decreasing. After a substantial increase, we have seen three years of state aid cuts with a fourth likely. No one knows what will happen to our Federal aid. Fortunately, we do not rely heavily on Federal aid but the state aid cuts are real. In my new role on our Finance Committee, we have focused on making sure that every efficiency that can be found is being found. We are looking forward a year further ahead than had been done in the past. New long range facilities plans are being developed so that we can better prepare for the large capital repairs and improvements that are going to be needed to a building that is starting to show its age.
In my role as the Vice President of the Burlington County School Board Association, I am always raising the profile of Chesterfield Elementary School. This year, for the first time, our school's leadership team will be giving a presentation to all of the school districts in Burlington County regarding the development and implementation of our Multi-Tiered System of Support program which provides academic and behavioral supports both to the student's who need help and to the high achievers.
In my role at the County, I have also advocated for more information and assistance so that our finance team can find all of the resources necessary to fund our school. Last year, I pushed for and got the New Jersey School Board Association Business Administrator in Residence (one of the state's leading experts on school finance), to give a presentation to the county's school districts about how the school funding formula works. This year, we will have a follow on addressing how to maximize financial resources not just from state sources but from outside. I have often said at school board meetings that every penny counts.
On the county level, I am putting together a new initiative to bring representatives of our county's school districts together to find common ground to present a united front to our elected representatives. I will also be working on a state level initiative that is bringing representatives from each county together.
Chesterfield is a wonderful community. We are a community that has many advantages but also challenges. We are a small, tight knit community. We are a solidly middle-class community. Our households are very highly educated. Our teachers are world class and fully committed to our children. Our school administration team is finally settled in and working well together. With all of that said, our district still faces challenges, both financial and academic. Money is tight. Our test scores are flat. We can always do better. We as a community and we as a district need to refocus our efforts on teaching the fundamentals. While it is not the role of the Board of Education to write the lesson plans, it is their role to keep the focus on the academic achievement of every student. Every student, regardless of their background, should reach their highest level of academic achievement.
What Are My Goals
There are four main policy areas that the Board can focus on to help every student reach their fullest potential.
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FINANCIAL STABILITY - As mentioned above, we have taken steps to stabilize finances and we will continue to do so. The finances are going to get tighter as each year passes. Our kindergarten class has 35 fewer students than our sixth grade class. We anticipate more aid cuts in the future so the time for planning is now.
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TRANSPARENCY – Much progress has been made on my commitment three years ago to improve transparency in how the district and the Board is run. The community is now getting timely newsletters from the Principal and from the District. More information is flowing on a regular basis through our email system not just to the parents but to the entire community. Community members are always made welcome at our Board meetings.
For a second term, my goal is to improve what the community hears from the Board itself. There is a lot that is going well in our school and we should be communicating both the good and the challenges openly and in a timely manner to the community. At every school board meeting, members of the public will hear me asking the hard questions about academic performance and finances so that anyone who listens knows what is happening and where we stand.
Transparency is also making sure that every expenditure is necessary, spent in the open and spent well. The Board is the ultimate custodian of the tax dollars of every resident of Chesterfield. Every dollar must be wisely spent. We must never lose sight of that obligation.
​ Transparency also means letting the parents and the community know what is being taught. Curriculum is now posted on the school's website. New procedures are being developed to fully implement "opt outs" for the controversial, state mandated, parts of our curriculum. Those will be communicated in a timely fashion to our parents. The parents have a right to know and a right to input into what their children are learning. They also have a right to know everything that is being taught in our school. It is the school's role to work with parents.
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LEADERSHIP STABILITY - Stability needs to be maintained in the school administration. In the last three years, we have seen stability at the top of the school. We have had no turnover in the principal and assistant principal's positions which is a great improvement over the past. We now have fully committed and effective Supervisors of Curriculum and Instruction and Special Services and Early Childhood Education. Our leadership team is dedicated and stable. We are on the right track at the top.
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FOCUS ON THE FUNDAMENTALS – We need a curriculum that best meets the academic needs of our children and then fully implement it. Our emphasis should be on the fundamental areas – math, reading, writing, science, history etc. Rarely does a Board meeting go by where I don't talk about reading and writing. The state keeps adding new areas of required education beyond the core subject areas and we need to make sure that those are integrated into the core subjects so that the core subjects do not suffer. We need to make sure that we do not lose sight of what the children need to succeed once they leave CES.
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Chesterfield is a district with incredible human resources in terms of our teachers, our staff, our administration, our parents and our broader community. We should commit ourselves to maximizing all of our human resources to make Chesterfield the best district in the area. Our children’s future requires nothing less.
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I ask that you please vote for
Andrew Rochester
on November 4, 2025.