LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Dec. 15
State should increase share of school funding
To the editor:
We commend the New Jersey Legislature for putting immense effort into studying the important problem of high property taxes in the state and attempting to create solutions that will maintain the high level of education quality in the state.
Nevertheless, while we believe that several of the recommendations would be helpful, we are very concerned that several others would be harmful to education in New Jersey without saving the taxpayers money.
Moreover, these proposals have been moving through the Legislature at a fast pace with little time or regard for public comment. The revised subcommittee reports were released Dec. 1, followed quickly by the introduction of bills (Dec. 4); hearings (Dec. 7); Assembly vote (Dec. 11); and scheduled Senate vote (Dec. 14). More proposals may be coming, and we urge the public to stay informed.
One bill in particular, A.4/S.10, contains provisions designed to cut education costs, but is likely instead to increase costs while reducing the quality of education in the state. The bill would increase the power of county superintendents to control the budgets, purchasing decisions, human resources policies and special-education services decisions of local school districts.
A county superintendent, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, is accountable to no taxpayers and is concerned only with implementing the politically driven state-level policies of the moment. The oversight envisioned in this legislation would require larger county-level staff to review every lo- cal district decision. To fund the larger county bureaucracy while maintaining cost neutrality would require taking resources from education services.
Proposals like this seek quick fixes without addressing the most important problem causing high property taxes. The Legislature’s own Report of the Committee on Public School Funding Reform identifies the fundamental problem as the insufficient state contribution to the education of its children.
Over the past decade, taxpayers have agreed to property-tax increases to fill the gap caused by the state’s neglect. But now that the state’s share of education funding has sunk to just 44 percent of the average cost of educating a child in New Jersey, the property taxes filling the gap have risen to unsustainable levels.
The answer to the problem of high property taxes is not to cap education spending or expand the powers of a county superintendent and associated bureaucracy. The answer is to increase the share of education funding coming from state revenues.
The state’s tax base income, expenditure and corporate taxes is a fairer basis than property taxes for sustaining education cost increases into the future. None of the proposals considered thus far would attack this fundamental problem.
We hope that the Legislature and the governor will maintain a strong commitment to the quality of education in New Jersey by voting down proposals that would lower the quality of education without saving taxpayers money. The children of New Jersey need leaders who will think clearly about this and other proposals that will erode the quality of education.
David Pettit
Fawn Drive
Charles Jacey
Coddington Court
Andrea Bradley
Wild Azalea Lane
Mark Conforti
Silverthorn Lane
Wei-Ching Lin
Berkley Avenue
Reginald Luke
Adams Drive
Christine Ross
Titus Road
Saul Rubinstein
Grist Mill Drive
Members, Montgomery Township Board of Education
Montgomery
Township flooding needs to be contained
To the editor:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared in 2004 that flooding is New Jersey’s No. 1 natural hazard. And the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection stormwater management rules adopted in 2005 require that all municipalities to address groundwater recharge and water quantity impacts.
The outcome of the Nov. 29 Princeton Township Flood Control Committee meeting confirms that flooding along Harry’s Brook continues to be a severe problem that affects not just one house, or one single lot, but entire neighborhoods along the stream corridors. And after hearing the presentation by Joe Skupien, (the township stormwater management consultant), it appears that groundwater recharge and water quantity impacts along Harry’s Brook are out of control and getting worse.
Flooding in Princeton is not about wet basements, or about survey of stream banks and analysis of its findings. The Princeton community has had a rainwater runoff crisis for some time and one solution to the problem is to contain and slow down the entry of rainwater runoff into Harry’s Brook via detention basins.
Flooding is all about public safety and property rights. The DEP’s new Flood Hazard Area Control Act rules are designed "to ensure that the action of one property owner does NOT adversely impact the rights of other property owners, as measured by increased flood peaks, flood stages, flood velocity and erosion and sedimentation."
Thank you for keeping Princeton residents informed.
Olivia Applegate
Random Road
Princeton
Gay couples deserve equal justice under law
To the editor:
One of the most basic rights is how we conduct our relations with those we love and care for. Many of us take for granted all the social and financial responsibilities, benefits and rights of marriage this is a given and a major foundation of our lives.
What if this basic right was suddenly taken away from us? What would happen to us individually and to society if this fundamental individual right was not supporting us? We would have a very strong personal feeling of outrage that such an injustice was being imposed upon us.
Marriage helps us define how we relate to our children, extended families and society at large. Gay couples are struggling to have this same structure of societal rights, responsibilities, benefits and approval that heterosexual couples have when they marry.
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Oct. 25 ruled that the Legislature give gay couples the same rights and benefits as heterosexual couples. I urge all of us to encourage the Legislature to take this opportunity to expand the current structure of marriage to include gay couples and end the injustice currently being imposed upon them.
Elaine Nigam
Rosedale Way
Hopewell Township
Civil-unions bill is discriminatory
To the editor:
I testified last week at the New Jersey State House about the discriminatory civil-unions bill that the Legislature is trying pass. I am the woman who married in Massachusetts and, 15 months later, we, along with our children, moved to New Jersey.
We thought New Jersey would prove to be a place like Massachusetts. A place that does not legislate discrimination. A place that values civil rights. And I am not yet convinced it is not.
There is still time. Tell your legislators we don’t want to discriminate; that we don’t want to establish a costly and cumbersome second-tier system; that we know separate is not equal.
Julie Sullivan-Crowley
Pardoe Road
Princeton
PHS Choir grateful for fundraising support
To the editor:
Last Saturday and Sunday, members of the Princeton High School Choir sang for the holiday shoppers at Landau’s to raise funds for their trip to Sweden in February. Thank you to Robert and Henry Landau for allowing the choir to conduct this fundraising effort at their store and generously contributing a portion of sales to the choir.
The students raised funds for two scholarships and had a great time singing. Thanks again to everyone at Landau’s and all the shoppers who supported this event.
The PHS Choir’s annual winter concert is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Princeton University Chapel. See you there.
Carole Braun
Nancy Papier
Landau Sock Sale Co-Chairs
Cameron Court
Princeton

