With all due respect to Managing Editor Mark Rosman, it is my belief that the News Transcript’s April 26 editorial, “Keep Up the Pressure for School Funding Fix,” may have confused some and misguided others.
The nature of the editorial was to inform the public that in voting down your local school budget, a message would be sent to the governor and the other elected officials in Trenton of your displeasure in paying higher property taxes to finance K-12 education.
The second point in the [editorial] was, and I paraphrase, that voting down the school budget may in fact not result in a lower tax assessment, because the local municipal government may or may not reduce the proposed school budget.
I must concur with the second point, which in most cases the municipal authority will most likely reduce said budget to an amount they believe will not diminish the scope of education in their district. The amount of said reduction does not afford any significant tax relief to the taxpayer.
Where I do disagree with the editorial pertains to defeating the school budget sending a message to Trenton. The only message Trenton is receiving is that people do not vote. In Manal-apan, only 9 percent of the eligible voters cast a vote – this in an exploding population of voters with school-age children, and taxpayers employed by the district.
So what is the message sent to Trenton? The message is that parents do not take the time to support the education excellence they demand, and employees do not feel that it is important enough to vote to secure the salaries and raises they demand.
Trenton, like Washington, is a political enterprise, who track their success on votes. “No votes, no voice.” Politicians want to get re-elected, and how this occurs is through votes. This is the awful truth that citizens must remember, whether it is Social Security, the right to choose, ending the war, or financing our nation’s future through education.
As can be clearly demonstrated, two of the four items listed in my preceding sentence have generated concern through the power of the vote. There are two items that no politician will agree not to cut or diminish said rights: Social Security and women’s right to choose. It puzzles me that society has more concern about a potential birth, but not in the children we bring into this world. Why this is so can be identified by the power of the vote.
Wake up, Amer-ica. Make it a priority to vote. Your children’s future is at risk. The state has for the past five years not appropriated additional student aid to meet the cost of inflation, medical cost increases for employees, nor the costs associated with heating our schools and running the buses.
Nor are they so concerned about our college-age children, with rising tuition and raising the rate of a student loan while increasing the debt amount of the loan. This may allow for students to be vested in greater debt. I’m sure this was with the lobbying of banks, who clearly will profit.
Our most valuable resource in this country is our children, and we must all take up the challenge to support their future.
James. R. Mumolie
past president
Manalapan-Englishtown
Regional School District
Board of Education
Manalapan