Residents are feeling pain of school costs

We have come to the time of year when New Jersey residents will head to the voting booth to cast their ballot on the only budget in which they have a say - school budgets.

Municipal governments do not place their budget before voters for approval, and the governor and state Legislature would not let the citizenry within a mile of casting a vote on their $30 billion spending plan.

So it is the school districts that take the hit from voters who have no other way to vent their wrath on property taxes, which only head one way - up.

A 2004 law that was supposed to provide property tax relief by forcing school boards to hold the line on spending is now acknowledged to be an unmitigated disaster in most cases. That law, which is commonly known by the number it was assigned as a bill in the Senate, S-1701, was signed as part of a package of tax relief measures during the administration of former Gov. James McGreevey.

Read the recent newspaper stories about school budgets and do the math to figure out the school taxes you will be paying in 2006-07. There is no property tax relief at all - just property tax pain.

The state's system of funding public education is also acknowledged to be broken. The Abbott districts - the 31 school districts that have been deemed to be New Jersey's poorest communities - continue to soak up state school aid like some giant sponges.

The absolute irony in this is that based on per-pupil spending figures, the Abbott districts are now the wealthiest New Jersey school districts.

It's insane, and there does not appear to be any significant relief in sight.

State aid to most New Jersey public school districts has remained flat for a fifth straight year, and our local superintendents have now been conditioned to accept the flat funding and to be grateful that the amount of state aid has not been reduced.

Not all school personnel are blameless. Education unions continue to insist on - and in many cases receive - health benefits packages that are far more generous than what private sector employees receive.

Some local school board members have come to understand that residents of their communities can no longer afford overly generous health benefits packages and have started to insist that union members pay more of the cost of their health care.

The coming years must see that trend continue if there is any hope of cost containment.

A report issued by a state investigative agency determined that some school superintendents are being paid way more than the public has been led to believe, specifically through stipends, allowances for vehicles, and payment for unused sick and vacation time.

That type of publicity around budget time is not what school boards need, but it shines a light on a system that obviously needs reforming.

New Jersey residents' cynicism when it comes to school board elections will likely be seen on Election Day, April 18, when, if history is a guide, about 10 percent of the state's registered voters will turn out to vote on the only budget on which they have a say.

With all of the attention paid to soaring property taxes, generous employee benefits and hidden administrative costs, it is sometimes difficult to keep in mind that at the end of the day it is about children. Their education, their future, should be paramount when stepping into the voting booth.

It is not surprising in this state, at this time in our history, that the children will not be the first thing some people are thinking about when they enter the voting booth next Tuesday.