Trenton, Please Raise My Taxes

To the Editor:
Every budget has increases to education. School funding has and will always be a lightning rod for both voters and politicians. Education increases, now the transportation fund, which has income over $1 billion dollars annually, and $1 billion goes to TTF bond interest! Obscene overspending by both parties, but voters do not care or call their representatives!
The Bureau of Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that N.J. residents are the highest taxed citizens in the country. N.J. spends more per pupil for education in the U.S.
Education spending and accomplishments are never linked or challenged. Newark is a prime example of education – economic frustrations. Hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds including $200 million in philanthropy, $100 million (from Steve Zuckerberg) having limited achievement.
Newark school system senior administrators averaged $175,000 salary in addition to benefits. The superintendent of the Newark public school district recorded 300,000 absences for the 2013 period. Sixty percent of students were absent more than 20 days.
Asbury Park 2012 school year spent $23,940 per student, albeit none qualified for the SAT tests. Camden N.J. spent $19,370 for 2012, noting the National Assessment for Educational Progress stated, “The irony that N.J. ranks 50 on national standards for academic achievement.”
Abbott School Districts receive an average of $3,200 dollars more per student (31 Abbott districts). Abbott math proficiency rarely exceeds 50 percent for all grade levels. Those districts have student support teams (SST) just to address absence and tardiness.
The breakfast, lunch, after school snack, and summer meal programs have been added to the school budgets however, no SNAP or TANF recipients funding agency contributes to school funding.
Presently 226,000 children use the school meal programs, an additional 300,000 are eligible for the program but do not participate. The costs have increased for lunch (eat – healthy) nutrition programs and summer lunch programs. The food alternative costs for breakfast, lunch and after school snack programs increased by 16 percent. There are over 200,000 Newark school employees addressing one of the worst performing districts in the nation.
Farleigh – Dickson University 2014 poll indicated 55 percent of N.J. parents did not know or were unfamiliar with Common Core. Most are unfamiliar with all of the Common Core protocols, biometrics, mandated curriculum, and testing concepts.
Common Core being the “unknown – untested – system” mandating those states accepting “stimulus funds” must accept the program. If the “unknown-untested concept” is the future methodology, why not first incorporate the “concept” in several states having the worst academic achievements. A reflection moment, it was engineer’s with slide rules that developed the space program, technology and materials with “old time math and science.”
How does Common Core address special needs, learning disabilities, disciplinary and chronic absence students especially with the PARRC testing mandate?
Ever increasing education costs, fiscal irresponsibility, feel good programs having meaningful performance mandates without judicial oversight.
Cape May County residents, can you remember or answer the following; what was the purpose for the N.J. sales tax and income taxes?
The Abbott District Ruling has 20 years of economic implementation costing hundreds of millions, with marginal results, while all Cape May County families pay full bore for education plus the additional premium for those districts with questionable accomplishments.
AL CROSSEN
North Wildwood