I will vote yes for the Voorhees budget. Here are three of many reasons.
• A basic or skeletal education will not adequately prepare children for the future; daily, children need lots of challenging activities that arouse curiosity, teach problem solving and critical thinking, and spur a desire to learn. Such activities involve art, music, guidance, literature, great librarians, enrichment programs, and extracurricular activities. Voting against the budget will deprive Voorhees children of these critical services and poorly prepare them for a successful future.
• Education’s financial problems are not caused by teachers and excessive budgets, but by ideologically and politically driven educational policies that aim to destroy public education (for example, Rutgers University and local school systems) and increase the profits of private education. The cynical, 30-year-old name for this strategy is “starve the beast,” the “beast” being quality public education. The solution is for Congress and state legislatures to pass equitable tax policies devoid of the biased, egregious loopholes that now dominate tax laws and policies.
• The proposed Voorhees school budget is sparse, calling for an average tax increase of one pizza (without soda) a month. Not surprisingly, budget defeats often costs tax payers more, not less money. Parents, for example, must often pay school fees and pay for transportation and private tutoring; ultimately, everyone pays higher taxes for deferred building maintenance.
Defeating the school budget twice is self-defeating. It will hurt Voorhees children, families, quality of life, and property values.
Howard Margolis
