Resident Supports Quality Education; The Problem Is the $130 Million Budget
To the Editor:
The June 18 Princeton Board of Education (BOE) town hall turned out to be as full of obscurities as everything else from the BOE and superintendent. The superintendent did not answer almost all the substantive questions.
Princeton needs to learn the difference between wants and needs. We support quality education, but at a reasonable price. Our schools need renovation and construction; the problem is the $130 million budget. We don’t need the extravagance that’s been portrayed as necessary. For example, the $4 million allocation for furniture at Princeton High School and the proposed 5/6 school comes to at least $1,500 per student and administrator. This is a very high number. Will no furniture be reused? What other extravagances are buried in the budget?
Athletic fields and turf are listed at $5 million. Administration is almost $13 million. (It’s not clear where that money is going; that’s not operating budget.) And bear in mind that for the new 5/6 school, there’s a projected initial annual operating budget increase of $1.5 million for 22 new staff such as administrators, counselors, CST, special area teachers, secretaries, and custodians.
One BOE defense is a 2010 Wharton study showing passage of school referendums led to a 6 percent increase in home values. What we are not being told is that it was a California-based study, where the tech industry has driven up property values dramatically. Given the past BOE expenditures and the high real estate prices, constantly raising taxes will drive buyers to other New Jersey communities with highly-rated schools. Although we pay high school taxes, PHS is ranked No. 9 in New Jersey and No. 230 in the U.S. (U.S. News & World Reports).
I encourage readers to make up their own minds and to press the BOE hierarchy to be more open and honest. Further information can be found on the BOE website.
Finally, the referendum is October 2. Why has the superintendent taken so long to have a public meeting on finances? There are three and a half months from the meeting to the referendum, and two of those are summertime when Princeton is historically empty. More strategy to keep us in the dark?
Sheila Siderman
Bouvant Drive