##M:[more]##With reports of additional property taxes foisted upon over-burdened citizens to pay for further budget increases (and do any of our public officials ever question the necessity of any budget items?), my two children each brought home a yellow plastic cup provided by their elementary school. The cups have the wording “Change For Change” and “Leave A Legacy. Build A Library”.
The accompanying flyer explained how the school’s staff and students are pursuing this fund-raising venture to help pay for a new library in Plainsboro. Having been to the library many times, there is no question the town could use a better library facility with increased books (and other research resources). The library’s limitations likely reduce its use. And as the one public institution that more of the public sees first-hand, there is a communal pride factor over and above its utilitarian value.
However, this fund-raising campaign represents a soft coercion that WW-P’s public schools have utilized before. They enlist children to pressure their parents to contribute to projects favored by municipal employees. What does a parent tell their child(ren) when they refuse to “contribute” to a cause. How do these children feel as they hear about their friends pouring coins into the “special piggy bank donated by PNC Bank” while they do not? Is this a means of teaching our children how to fundraise through ransacking their parent’s coin purses? This is no lesson in public finance. Or is it?
WW-P once again uses the innocent children entrusted to their schools for non-ideological education to question their parent’s hearts should we personally decide that our after-taxes money (yes, coins are still money as the campaign so clearly understands) should not be “donated” to a cause. I believe public projects deserve open and public debate with funding through traditional democratic means of votes and appropriations or through true philanthropy.
To recap: Let’s not back-door our way toward financing public needs. Let’s have the courage of our convictions by openly advocating our positions using available forums and media. Let’s not use children to drive a wedge between parent and child on political issues favored by certain (or even all) public employees.
Or do good political ends always justify the means? Apparently so, here in Plainsboro.
Neal Phenes
6 Chandler Court
