Editorial: Jamesburg’s schools need a "yes" vote

EDITORIAL: The students of Jamesburg’s school system deserve more than what they are now being offered.

   Taxpayers in Jamesburg are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
   At school elections on April 15, they can choose to approve a 19.6 percent school tax hike or they can reject it, meaning already deep cuts might be made deeper.
   Under state law, a defeated school budget goes to the Borough Council for review and, possibly, cutting that would reduce the tax increase.
   The problem is there’s not a lot of fat to cut and the driving forces behind this year’s increase are beyond the board’s control: a 32.5 percent increase in health insurance costs, from $605,182 to 801,969; a total tuition increase for special education students and Jamesburg high school students attending Monroe of 17.7 percent, from $3.47 million to $4.09 million; and a 5.3 percent increase in debt service, from $433,437 to $456,438. That $840,000 increase is equivalent to about half the proposed tax increase.
   In addition, the district is expecting about $6,000 less in non-tax revenue, which means it is getting no help from the state or federal government in covering increasing costs.
   The Jamesburg school board — hoping to minimize the tax hike — already is planning to eliminate after-school athletic programs and eliminate a librarian position shared by the district’s two schools. (The librarian will be reassigned as a teacher.)
   All of this adds up to a big tax bill and an unpopular budget, so it is no wonder that the residents who attended last week’s hearing were a bit peeved. In general, they were angry that the proposed 43-cent tax hike is coming on the heels of a 35-cent hike last year, and that the after-school programs and library position were cut. They said they believe there is more fat to trim away.
   There isn’t. This budget is fairly tight — nearly $140,000 was cut from the administration and business office — and cutting further can only have a more devastating impact on Jamesburg classrooms.
   Some residents said they would vote against this budget to send a message to the governor that state funding is inequitable and that not enough is being done to help towns like Jamesburg. The residents are right, of course. The state has allowed a broken funding system to continue, leaving Jamesburg taxpayers to choose between high taxes and quality schools.
   But defeating the budget is counter-productive. The defeat will not send a message to the state. It can only lead to deeper cuts.
   Jamesburg’s students deserve better than a flawed political statement. They deserve after-school programs and a librarian and all the things the board has been forced to do without. They deserve smaller class sizes, like their neighbors, and new textbooks and all the things that students in neighboring districts receive.
   The only way to get these things during the current climate is to pay for them.
   That’s why we are asking voters to vote "yes" on the Jamesburg budget on April 15.