EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
By Ruth Luse
While, according to reports, over 300 Mercer County schoolteachers took off from work Monday to attend a huge tax reform protest in Trenton, the great majority of Hopewell Valley’s teachers stayed on the job.
According to Richard Lang, director of human resources for the district, 42 teachers, nearly 11 percent of the Valley’s 396, were absent Monday. "Of the 42 absences, 20 (5 percent) were personal days without reason." And that’s OK, he said, "because the Hopewell Valley Education Association (HVEA) collective bargaining agreement contains language that allows the administration to cap the number of personal days without reason to 5 percent of the total teaching staff on any given day."
He said a combination of jury duty (one) and professional (12) or sick (nine) days accounted for the rest of the absences.
We can assume that at least 20 of these teachers went to Trenton to join New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and other public employee union members in a rally against legislative measures designed to control or lower property taxes.
Fortunately, schools in Hopewell Valley were not forced to close. But others were. Monday reports said schools in Morristown and Morris Township, South Amboy, Cinnaminson, Gloucester City and the Burlington County Institute of Technology had canceled classes because of staffing shortages. To me, this is not professional behavior. The students and their parents they left to their own devices Monday obviously were less important to them than participating in a union protest in Trenton!
While I have great respect for most of the teachers and educators I have met over many years in Hopewell Valley, I always have been uncomfortable with the idea of teachers who are supposedly "professionals" being members of a union. I was a teacher years ago and never would have dreamt of becoming a union member.
I guess the fact that I made $4,000 to start should have been a signal to me that teachers were poorly paid in those days, but that fact eluded me, because I was young and went on to do other things with my life, which, by the way, have paid me a lot less than I would be making today had I remained a teacher. Dumb me!
But, since I am a worker in the private sector, I know one thing for sure. If my employer has had a good year, I can expect a little more in pay. If not, I can expect less, or even a wage freeze. Most who work in the private sector know this well. We cannot count on making more every year. Many of us do not have pensions and when costs of medical insurance go up, we see fewer dollars in our paychecks.
This is the reason why so many taxpayers in this state are fed up. They see the huge tax bills and know most of the money goes to schools. Many target schools as the reason for their financial woes when they find they can’t afford to stay in their longtime homes, because of property taxes. Can you blame these people for seeking tax reform?
Obviously teachers cannot be blamed for the mess the state is in. We all know about the crooked politicians, horribly mismanaged budgets and the hosts of other ills that have made this state a financial joke. We can point fingers everywhere, but that will do no good.
If this state is to get back on a sound footing financially, everyone has to get into the act. Politicians have to stop worrying about getting re-elected. They have to stop pandering to unions and private interest groups that contribute to their campaigns. Government needs to remember why it exists to serve the people who fund it. The people of New Jersey do not exist to fund the public sector. When the people of New Jersey finally decide they are paying too much, they might organize and revolt. And those who are living on money raised through taxation should not be surprised. When the well runs dry, it runs dry!
To get New Jersey back on the right track, it will take lots of courage on the part of legislators and sacrifices on the part of public sector and union workers. I hope to live to see the day when we can again be proud and pleased to say we live in New Jersey!

