I was reading the front page of the West Windsor-Plainsboro News last Sunday when I almost choked on my coffee: WW-P officials cut $250,000 from the $1.2 million originally budgeted to pay PIACS. The problem with that statement is that it is neither true nor reflective of the true story behind increasing property taxes.
First let’s get behind the fuzzy math. The budget for the proposed new charter school (PIACS) is not a number that can be absolutely predetermined. The way it works is that each student in the school district is allocated X dollars that will be spent on his/her educational costs, regardless of whether the student stays in district or attends a charter school. Now let’s break it down more. If the tax paying family of Student A decides to keep her in district, 100 percent of the funds stay with her. If this same tax-paying family decides to send Student A to a charter school, 90 percent of the funds designated for her will go to the charter school while the township gets to keep the remaining 10 percent. The state notifies the town on the enrollment from the town in the new charter school and also calculates the amount the township will need to set aside.
Last year, the township set aside $400,000 that was supposed to be used for the charter school this year. But the charter school did not open this year. Therefore to get to the $1.2 million projection this year, they only really needed $800,000 this year ($400,000 from last year +$800,000 this year = $1.2 million). So where did the final amount of $950,000 come from (which is still $150,000 over what is predicted to be necessary)? That’s another deposit to the surplus that is supposed to be used for tax relief for the residents of this town at some point.
Our ludicrous surplus is a major factor in why we lost millions in state aid. If you have a surplus of over $14 million why do you need state aid? Rhetorical question, of course, as I don’t have an answer for that and I haven’t heard a real answer from the school board.
An important point that gets lost in all the confusing numbers game is this: a child who goes to a charter school results in exactly that — one less child to take up resources and space in the home district. What happened to all the concerns that the schools are overcrowded and concerns re: student/teacher ratios? If the money lost from the charter school is so dire to our budget woes (less than 0.8 percent of the budget by the way) then why did this board not participate in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program which would allow out of town students to attend our school and thereby allow the township to obtain the tax revenue?
Here comes the political theater. The members of the board knew these numbers going into this “budget controversy.” In the end by cunningly trying to highlight PIACS at the 11th hour as the cause for the controversy, they will foster public opposition to the charter school right when the school is applying for zoning to a facility in South Brunswick. Somewhere buried deep in the article was the real reason for the tax increase: declining property values (2.0 percent for West Windsor and 0.6 percent for Plainsboro).
What if we just once had an honest and adult conversation with the members of this town on ways to increase the budget without additional taxes. In fact, I would argue that PIACS would help the bottom line not hurt the bottom line of this town. It will force the township to compete and offer non-PIACS kids better language instruction. It will force the township to try to keep pace with PIACS’s amazing math program and curriculum.
More importantly, the townships are already discussing how to respond to a school like PIACS and the school doesn’t even have a facility yet. This type of competition will help drive families and corporations to our town.
As you probably have figured out, I am in favor of the new charter school opening this fall and will readily disclose that my six-year-old son will be enrolled there this fall. However, I am also a fellow property tax-paying member of this community who has a stake in seeing this community prosper. We as parents on both sides of the issue have to remember that when engaging in dialogue about such personal issues as where to send your child for school. So after wiping off the coffee from my shirt, I turn to the sports section and hope that South beat Princeton.
Raj Ravikumar
Suffolk Lane, West Windsor
Beware of PIACS’s Conflicts of Interest
Supporters of the proposed Princeton International Academy Charter School have justified taxpayer funding by claiming that the school will simply move students and tax dollars from local public schools to the charter school. The assertion is wrong.
The enrollment of approximately 100 children from West Windsor and Plainsboro in the charter school would not result in any comparable reduction in costs in the school district. The 100 students who plan to attend PIACS next year for kingergarten, first, and second grades would have attended one of four different schools in the district, as they are drawn from different attendance zones. A few students per grade across four WW-P schools does not mean that there will be reduction in staff, as class size is already approaching the maximum viewed as appropriate. In fact, the savings, if any, are further minimized by the fact that a large percentage of the PIACS students are expected to be drawn from a single private school, YingHua International School in Lawrenceville.
To add insult to injury the PIACS proposal calls for hosting the private school and the public school in the same building at 12 Perrine Road in South Brunswick. Is the charter school being used to subsidize the private school? Moreover, it appears that the charter school will lease the property from one of the current trustees of the charter school. There are obvious conflicts of interest involved in these transactions. The state needs to closely examine the conflicts to protect the taxpayers.
As a taxpayer, I find it troubling that politicians will allow this diversion of public funds to essentially convert a private school into a charter school. I hope the taxpayers of these three towns, state department of education officials, local leaders, and the governor recognize this travesty before it is too late. I urge you to contact your elected officials to oppose this back-door tax increase.
Reena Vankudre
Providence Drive, West Windsor
