It Can't Happen Here...

The East Windsor Regional School District recently put through a set of budget questions to the voters that would put the fate of numerous school projects and initiatives (full-day Kindergarten, non-Mandated Busing, and additional teaching staff positions) directly in the hands of the voters. It could never happen here in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District (HVRSD).

Why do I say that? It's simple - East Windsor choose to put all the nice to have programs in supplemental budget questions and is relying on the voters to approve the spending of monies above what the state allows in it's 4% annual budget cap. But this could never happen here.

See, in our school district only a handful of voters turn out each year to vote on the school budget and any open board positions, and if just a few more voters are against the budget than for it, then the school board is left to juggle spending to somehow provide enough monies to provide a quality education to the students.

If the Hopewell Valley Regional School District put Primary Strings, After School Activities, Hazardous Busing, and Practical Arts classes in a separate budget question would enough parents show up to approve these programs?

When the participation levels in prior school board elections hover around 20% (or less), a vocal minority can overwhelm a passive majority easily. Our budget problems here in HVRSD will only get worse for the foreseeable future - there is no silver bullet to solve our problems. Simple budget caps solve NOTHING, in fact they punish our children with school budgets that grow at a rate lower than our actual expenses rise, putting a long-term squeeze on every district. The state needs to revamp the entire school funding process, and instead of handing out money based on the affluence of a district, should hand out monies to address particular needs (special needs children, school construction, and others) and turn-over the day-to-day funding of school operations to the districts. Now, there will always be districts that can't afford to provide an adequate education to their children based on their tax rolls, and it is reasonable for those districts to get additional monies from the state, but this current system has got to end.