SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Teachers not feeling the pain

By Ken White, Monmouth Junction
To the editor:
    In your March 31 front page article BOE passes budget with 12-cent tax hike, board members were quoted as saying “we all feel the pain of the economy,” and “we all have to make concessions.”
   Certainly the taxpayers of South Brunswick will feel the pain of the tax increase, the district employees that are having their jobs cut are feeling the pain of losing their jobs, the students and their parents that are paying increased fees for sports and AP courses are feeling financial pain, and those unions that accepted a pay freeze are making concessions.
   There is one group, however, that is not “feeling the pain,” and that is the self-serving South Brunswick Education Association.
   I find it outrageous that over 500 members of the 720 member teachers union voted not to accept a wage freeze, thus causing the layoffs of their fellow members, increased fees for students and parents, and a tax increase for the hard working taxpayers of South Brunswick, many of which have faced job loss and pay and benefit reductions as a result of the economic downturn.
   I agree with Board President Matt Speesler who said the teachers were thinking more of themselves than about the students. I agree with the South Brunswick Post editorial, which chided the SBEA for not accepting the wage freeze.
   I call upon the candidates in the upcoming Board of Education election to pledge to vote on a pay reduction at least equal to the pay increases given to the SBEA in the current contract when that contract expires in two years.
   The arrogant comment by SBEA head Chris Hines that no teacher should have to justify his or her salary does not sit well with the majority of South Brunswick taxpayers that work in private industry and who have to “justify their salary” every hour of every day and don’t have the rich pension and heath insurance benefits that the teachers enjoy.
   Hines had the gall to say “these are tough times for all, and the members of the association and their families have not been insulated by the economic crisis”.
   The fact is that by taking the salary increase, the members are more than insulated from the economic downturn, they are thumbing their noses at the fellow community members that pay their ever-increasing salaries and benefits.