Your Turn

Parents must bear greater burden for ed.

I believe that it is time for the parents of school-age children to realize that they, the parents, need to start paying a larger share for the education and safety of their children. We will all help with the onerous property taxes that everyone in this state pays, but these parents must start to foot a larger share of the cost.

When property taxes were first used to pay for education in New Jersey, it wasn't anywhere near as costly. The schools needed schoolbooks every 10 years or so, writing and construction paper, pencils, scissors, glue and maybe a new movie projector every five years or so. Not much was needed for the upkeep of these schools, as most were new at the time. Significantly lower fuel costs, the low cost of insurance and many more students walking to school kept costs down as well. This was not too much to ask of taxpayers at the time.

Now we have to pay for computers, school security, repairs and additions to all these schools, high fuel costs for both heating and busing, more students riding buses and many more counseling and supervisory help for the students, and all that has driven the costs of education through the roof.

Property taxes have risen so much that many people have had to leave this state because it just costs too much in taxes for seniors and retirees, and they can no longer afford to live here.

I graduated high school in 1969, and my parents had to pay for busing for four of us because we were 1/10 of a mile too close to the school for the free busing. We didn't have much money in those days, but our education and safety were so important that they somehow figured out how to pay for it.

It is now time for parents to start footing more of the bill for their children's safety and education. With all the luxuries that people in today's world seem to think are "necessities," sacrificing an extra cell phone, cable-television option, video games or some other such "necessity" for your children's education and safety should be a no-brainer for most. Those without these luxuries can still find a way to cut back somewhere if their child's education and safety are as important as they should be. We are all helping, but the parents need to start doing more.

With property taxes driving more and more seniors out of state, your children may not be able to visit Grandma or Grandpa because they now live in Florida due to the fact that they could no longer afford to live in New Jersey.

We all love your children, but it wouldn't hurt if you loved them just a little bit more than we do.

Jeffrey Kress is a resident of Old Bridge