I have a vested interest in ensuring that my daughter receives a quality educa-tion, yet I voted against the 2006-07 school budgets.
It’s disgraceful the way that scare tactics are used in this state to promulgate an educational system intent on lining pockets. It is absolutely not about the children anymore.
Consider the Abbott vs. Burke ruling which holds that “100 percent parity, in per-pupil educational expenditures between wealthy suburban districts and the special needs districts by the 1997-98 school year.”
The state Legislature is required to provide “extra-educational needs” to students in special needs districts.
Amazing that we find so little information as to what actually constitutes a “special needs” district.
What are the criteria for selection? How and when does reassessment take place? You mean to tell me that places like Hoboken receive extra funding?
During the period of 1990 through 1997, 30 special needs districts received an additional $850 million in taxpayer dollars, yet there was little evidence to suggest the added support benefited the children.
The state Supreme Court’s answer – let’s remove the power to allocate school funding away from elected officials and legislate throwing even more taxpayer money away. Robin Hood reigns supreme in this state by taking from the middle class, giving some to the poor and the rest to the Merry Men of Tren-ton Forest.
Did anyone who voted for the budget see the $4.25 billion being budgeted to the Abbott schools?
If that weren’t enough, the Abbott districts have requested an additional $505 million to cover increased costs.
What measures of accountability have been instituted to ensure the money is well spent? Personally, I don’t trust Trenton to oversee the making of a cheeseburger, let alone the state budget.
Here’s the kicker – my tax money is being redistributed to some bloated bureaucracy in another district and as soon as funding goes flat in the school district where I reside, I hear cries of potential service cuts – things like school “courtesy” busing and teacher staff downsizing.
The people who make those statements know full well that these choices are politically unpalatable to working parents. We’ve become hostage to those cries and are forced to pay up by accepting more property tax increases.
It’s high time we stand up to these hacks and voice our opposition to their irresponsible tax and spend ways. Let’s get rid of bad legislation and voice our frustration where it counts – at the ballot.
John T. Pao
Marlboro