Leaving a Million Dollars in Trenton

Year after year we have heard incumbent members of the board who are running for reelection bemoan the fact that once again Trenton has done us wrong. "We're not the bad guys. It's those politicians in Trenton." The incumbents undoubtedly complain that the problem is not that they are spending too much money, the problem is that Trenton is not giving them more money to spend. Sound familiar? Did ya ever wonder if these people understand the concept of taxation? The only reason 'Trenton' has money to spend is because they took it out of taxpayers pockets just like the board of education does. Do you think residents who are struggling to keep their jobs and keep their homes really care which politician is picking their pockets clean? Yet we keep hearing that it's not that we're wasting money on duplicate administrators (superintendent, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent) or positions that the NJ efficiency standards say we shouldn't have (director of public relations). No they keep telling us it's because we haven't given enough money to Trenton in taxes for Trenton to give back to the schools so that they schools will take less in taxes. This year, however, their protests are not only hollow, they are simply false. As Mrs. Becker so astutely pointed out in a recent board meeting, East Brunswick is one of the few districts in Middlesex County that got no increase in state aid. What Mrs. Becker did not explain (perhaps she really doesn't understand?) is why we got no increase in state aid. If you look at the document that shows all districts in Middlesex County (under docs Projected 2009-10 School Aid) you will clearly see that the only districts that DID NOT get a 5% increase in state aid were the very same districts that SPENT CONSIDERABLY MORE than the 'adquacy budget'. Now the administration will try and tell you that they have not 'gone over cap' which is in itself true. What they won't tell you is that the state funding formula ALSO considers whether they've gone over 'adequacy'. Those districts that went over 'adequacy' got NO INCREASE in state aid. Those districts that stayed under 'adequacy' got a 5% increase in state aid. EAST BRUNSWICK WAS OVER THE ADEQUACY BUDGET BY NEARLY $11 MILLION. Missing out on the 5% increase in state aid COST EAST BRUNSWICK TAXPAYERS MORE THAN $1 million in state aid. That's $1 million that: doesn't go into programs for our children - - or has to be taken from our taxpayers. Either way, it's probably not the kind of oversight we expected from our elected board of education.