Am I the only one upset by huge and ever increasing property taxes? And school officials who say they are showing restraint by “only” increasing budgets 2-4 percent per year in times of virtually no inflation? If tax levies must increase 2-4 percent forever, absent massive injections of state aid, we are lost.
Even Governor Christie’s proposed constitutional amendment for “only” continual 2.5 percent increases doesn’t solve the problem if inflation is 0 percent. The bulk of property tax goes to school districts, and it’s not hard to know why schools want increasing amounts of money, despite comments by some school officials that service costs and charter schools are responsible.
In fiscal 2009, 47 percent of West Windsor-Plainsboro school district’s general fund expenditures were teacher compensation, and 5 percent were administrative costs. Looking at district total governmental activities, which include special education and other activities receiving grant funding, instructional costs are an even higher 62 percent of total costs. The district’s school board granted a 4.9 percent teacher salary increase in 2009, a 4.8 percent increase in 2010, and a 4.7 percent increase in 2011, at a time when most private sector workers are seeing wages reduced.
The district just announced a negotiated three-month delay of the 2011 raise, inconsequential to long-term trends, in return for granting an additional 3.4 percent increase in 2012. Is it any wonder why the tax rate is rising? According to the National Education Association, New Jersey teacher salaries ranked fourth in the nation in 2008, with an average salary of $63,018.
The best way to know if you are offering the right salary is to observe the number of qualified people who apply for open spots, and by this measure area schools are currently overpaying. This might be an unpopular truth in certain quarters. West Windsor claims that a 100-student loss to a charter school is causing problems, but officials who can’t handle a routine fluctuation of that amount within an enrollment of more than 9,800 should be replaced.
For this particular year, schools can point validly to a one-time loss of state aid, but a one-time loss isn’t a reason for a long-term trend. The real responsibility lies with the districts themselves.
I moved to this area partly because of the good school system, and I admire my kids’ teachers. I would love all employees to have ever higher wages — if we could afford it. However, the board’s responsibility is to give us a budget without one of the highest taxes in the nation. As a start, I would suggest they benchmark their cost structure against states that don’t have our ever higher and onerous tax rates.
David Hitchcock
Springhill Drive, West Windsor
