Rita Bergen, Bordentown City
I want to thank the citizens and concerned parents of the Bordentown Regional School District who voted for the school budget.
To those of you who felt the need to vote no or to those of you who didn’t vote, congratulations on your “victory.”
After your celebration has died down and reality sinks in, please don’t complain next year that you have to find child care for your kindergartner because Bordentown only offers half day kindergarten.
Please don’t complain that your grammar school child has 30 students in his class. Please don’t complain that your middle school child cannot play sports or that your high school aged child can’t take the classes he or she wants because they have stopped offering them. And finally, please don’t complain when the value of your (house) decreases because Bordentown is no longer considered a desirable community in which to live because the quality of our schools is not what it has been in the past.
When all this happens, you have no one to blame but yourselves.
And for what? An extra $10 a month in the township or $4 a month in the city. Most people I know spend more than that on coffee in one week.
And to the people of Fieldsboro who voted against the budget, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Your taxes were set to go down. Why would you campaign and vote against a school budget in which your taxes would not be increased? It seems to me like it’s all about politics and not about the students in our community.
The budget was already at bare bones and the Board of Education worked tirelessly to ensure that the students would continue to get a thorough and efficient education. The teachers of Bordentown have worked (much of that time without a contract) ensuring that your child did not feel the effects of the budget cuts. I can’t say that I blame the teachers and staff if they don’t continue to work with the same dedication that they have in the past. Your no vote or lack of a vote has sent a clear message that you do not support our teachers or our schools (and in the long run, the children of our community).
For those of you who are unaware of the process, the budget is now in the hands of the governing bodies of Bordentown City, Bordentown Township and Fieldsboro. Last year, the governing bodies further reduced the school budget by an additional $375,000, seeming to arbitrarily pick a number out of the air at a public meeting and agree on that number before allowing the public to speak. Let’s hope that the governing bodies take into account the detrimental effects that further cuts will have on our children.
For those of you who feel the system for funding education is wrong or ineffective, get in touch with your assemblymen, your senator, or the governor. Showing your disapproval by cutting the school budget will have no positive effect.
If you hadn’t heard, the state has deemed Bordentown to be a fiscally responsible district, spending $1million dollars less than the state expected it to spend.
If you would have come to a board meeting and educated yourself on the process, maybe you would have voted differently. I’m hoping that your no votes were out of ignorance and not out of spite, anger or your own political agenda.
It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Unfortunately, certain people in this village have failed our children miserably.

