Middlesex School Board Budget 042108

Dear Editor:

I have the greatest respect for Board of Education members who devote their time and energy in trying to make our public schools the best they possibly can be. They are often placed in the position of doing the most with the least, and it is my sincere belief that they have nothing but the best interests of students and the community in mind. Therefore, it is with regret that I was not able to vote yes for the Middlesex Borough public school budget increase in last week’s election.

As someone who has joined the massive forces of the unemployed, I must choose carefully what I view as necessary and what excesses I will support. Unfortunately, a full-day kindergarten program is one proposal that doesn’t fall in either category, and this request was the ultimate one that weighed in on my decision.

While I agree that education should be a prime investment, I view the need for full-day kindergarten sessions to be a social, rather than an educational issue. Among the growing state requirements that we have seen over the years, kindergarten is not one of them. I therefore believe the desire for a lengthened program developed from the demands placed on two income families.

With so many children being exposed to daycare and preschool, it is no wonder why some view half-day kindergarten sessions to be inconvenient. After placing many young children with an all-day provider, it may seem disruptive to change their routine to a half-day schedule. Still, kindergarten’s purpose should be a gradual introduction to the public school system, and working parents who paid for all-day babysitting/preschool services up to this point can continue to look for alternative kindergarten options and/or afterschool arrangements. Asking taxpayers to foot the bill, regardless of how inexpensive and attractive it may seem on paper, can be burdensome, especially for those on a tightened budget.

The requested maintenance improvements, that in the long-run were to save money, would have saved us even more without the added kindergarten expense. For this reason, I would have liked the kindergarten proposal stated as a separate question. As it is, the lack of value I saw in this one budget suggestion offset any possible reasoning I may have allotted to the other requests.

The average tax increase of $138 to borough homeowners may seem trivial, but that is significant money I could place toward my monthly health insurance premium that is no longer funded by my former company. To a senior citizen, this money can offset out-of-pocket expenses on prescription medication. And to homeowners, $138 can go toward the upkeep and repairs on their own property, which would also end up being an investment to the community.

So as the unemployed are forced to make do with their newly restricted budgets, unfortunately our school board must also do the same. With an unstable economy, we owe it to ourselves to question every expense, whether it be personal or local and learn to draw lines. If not, we will all be in debt and fall short to a society that is overtaxed in more ways than one.