Thursday, April 06, 2006

Voter will oppose Mat-Ab school budget

Well here we go again, Aberdeen and Matawan. It's that time of the year, when our school board pleads to the public to pass the upcoming budget because of the "kidz" (isn't that how they spelled it last year on all the lawn signs?). The residents of both Aberdeen and Matawan will shoot it down again, then comes the creative wording in the newspapers by the powers that be (who want each of us to spend more money): "We don't think our residents understand the importance of the budget, and what it means and exactly what the budget is providing. We need to reach out to the community and educate them."

Yes, please educate us, we need that. With our narrow minds (probably a lack of education from the Mat-Ab School District), we will not be able to see that once again our hard-earned money will go toward increased taxes for a budget that illustrates just how much a school district can waste money. Do we need to be educated on how to waste money? I think most of us have been doing that the past few years by our taxes rising mostly because of the school budget. But yes, I guess I was smart enough to buy my home, work out a mortgage payment, but not smart enough to understand a budget.

Let's start off with comments regarding creating an alternative school for students with special needs. OK, how much is that going to cost? I don't see the price tag on the Mat-Ab School District Web site on how much is required.

Is the high school field really in that bad shape? Can the school district correct the field to be in working capacity for less than $1.45 million? A turf field would be great, but maybe this isn't the year for this. How about we look toward the next few years to implement this, and look at lower cost-effective ways to repair the field that we have today?

How about the new sports that will be offered this year, that were not in last year's budget? A librarian for each of the seven schools? Again, maybe this isn't the year for these new programs and salaries.

Personally I would like to see the current budget and the proposed budget posted on the Mat-Ab School District Web site. It might help educate us residents in understanding what is in the budget, and why it is so important. Other school districts in the state of New Jersey post their budgets to their Web sites.

In all fairness, if you do contact Business Administrator Charley Shay, he is willing to send a copy of the budget via mail, fax, or you can personally pick it up at his office. Mr. Shay was very helpful in this aspect.

I look forward to seeing each of my fellow taxpayers at the polls, as together we defeat another school board budget.

Fred Moltz

Aberdeen

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