Letter to the editor
To the editor:
The Board of Education and Hillsborough’s school administrators agreed to an 8.1 cumulative raise over the next three years scheduled to conclude at the end of the 2017 school year. The 8.1 percent raise will be distributed by about 2.56 percent annually. About 30 school administrators including principals, vice principals, athletic directors and K-12 district supervisors will be the recipients of this raise.
Meanwhile it was also reported by the Beacon that last May the Hillsborough Education Association contract gave teachers, custodians, and support staff a three-year cumulative raise of 6.75 percent, which would be distributed in the corresponding order between the 2013 and 2016 school years at rates of 2.0, 2.2 and 2.4 percent.
I like to see our Board of Education take care to recognize a rising cost of living when it sometimes lacks in recognizing our schools’ needs in other sectors (i.e., curriculum standards, testing, etc.).
NJ.com reports that nearly a million New Jersey residents can no longer keep up with dramatically rising living costs. Over the past dozen years, living costs rose by 28.9 percent, while median wages fell by 4.4 percent. New Jersey, widely regarded as one of the most expensive states to live in, is evidently struggling with the rest of world economy and Hillsborough is not immune.
New Jersey in November 2013 voted to raise the state’s minimum wage floor from$7.25 an hour to $8.25 and to amend the state constitution to trigger automatic cost-of-living increases every year based on the Consumer Price Index. Despite hard backlash from Governor Christie, I am proud of New Jersey for being the 20th state to have a minimum wage floor above the federal minimum and I am proud that our Board of Education is taking a similar lead.
Kat Ello
Hillsborough