Cooperation essential to resolve budgets

The results are in, and officials in North and South Brunswick will now be faced with the lately unfamiliar task of resolving defeated school budgets.

Voters in both townships have developed track records for supporting their school district budgets at the polls in recent years, with the last defeats six years ago in South Brunswick and 2002 in North Brunswick. They voted affirmative to these questions even when the tax hikes were significant, well above the 10-cent mark in many cases.

But on Tuesday, the voters told the districts that their asking prices have become too high. But by how much? That is the question the township councils in both towns must both soon decide.

With the budget defeated by a mere five votes in South Brunswick, school officials can rightly claim there is no mandate for dramatic cuts. The district had proposed a hefty overall tax rate hike of 19 cents, but it’s in the council’s hands now to decide on a fair level of cuts or to leave the package as it is.

In North Brunswick, the message sent at the polls was also somewhat unclear. Although the 15-cent tax rate increase budget was defeated soundly in terms of percentages and districts, so few voters actually cast ballots — the tallies were 946 no, 768 yes — that school officials there might also be able to make a case against a mandate for large-scale cuts.

Every year, tense politicized battles develop between local school boards and councils over what to do next with the defeated budgets. Town officials must walk the fine line between carrying out the will of their constituents and adversely affecting children’s educations, and their decisions often don’t please everyone.

It’s a difficult situation for all involved, but we hope to see a spirit of cooperation between the councils and district officials on the matter over the weeks ahead. An amicable settlement must be reached for the people these budgets are really about — the students.