Drew Gitomer, Lambertville
In recent weeks a number of letters have appeared raising very strong and very real concerns about the SHRHS school budget. It is a fact the costs per pupil far exceeds comparable costs of almost any other school in the state, large or small.
It is all too common to take these kinds of budget debates and pit the interests of students and their families against the interest of taxpayers, particularly of those without children in the schools. Especially in the case of SHRHS, we need to turn the debate around and begin a process that asks how we can provide an education to our students that is stronger than the one that exists now, but at substantially lower costs.
The budgetary costs are the result of a series of long-term decisions and cost-drivers put in place over many years. They will need to be solved with a long-term plan that addresses the drivers of these costs. For example, it is true, as the school board argues, that it has no control over the special education costs of the children who are classified. But, it is also true that a pattern of classification rates for our children that far exceeds the norm is something that must be addressed. Is there a legitimate reason that our children are classified at such high rates? If you can bring down the classification rates, you bring down costs. Let’s start figuring out how to address this issue. It is not a one-year solution, but it is a long term strategy that will have an impact on every year going forward.
It is also true that the small number of students has an impact on costs. But, we must ask whether there are ways to improve the quality of education for students by changing instructional structures that will not yield such a low student to teacher ratio. I am reasonably certain that a committee of board members, parents, teachers, and interested citizens could, given such a charge, propose a set of solutions that would yield a very different cost structure. Again, all these solutions would not be a one-year fix, but would result in a long term strategy to change the current budgetary directions.
Finally, while it may be that costs could be reduced through consolidation, there is no evidence that a merger of districts is happening any time soon. Further, it is beyond any one community’s control. This issue has been on the table for decades and may or may not be resolved. The point is that this community, and board, cannot simply put off responsibility for significant cost restructuring by identifying it as a consolidation issue for someone else to solve.
Regardless of how one votes on this year’s budget, the district needs to engage in a serious process of addressing costs, together with a strong educational program, in a long-term strategic manner. Right now, the costs are not sustainable. We are at a crisis point that can only be addressed through a thoughtful and serious process that considers how to make SHRHS an outstanding high school at a percentage of the current costs. The fact is that other high schools do this all over the state and the country, even those of smaller size. There is no reason that we cannot do the same.

