Every day for the next two weeks, I am going to attempt to share some budget details and personal thoughts with you, in the hopes that you will support the Haddonfield School Budget with a YES vote on April 20th. I am not a politician, nor am I member of the School Board: I am a mom of two elementary students, and a lifelong resident of Haddonfield, who hopes that the budget passes.
My husband and I joke that our relationship with Haddonfield is like a marriage: we are here for the long-term, for richer or for poorer, until death do we part. Neither one of us likes the idea of increasing our already ridiculously high taxes, but the 3.25% budget increase that was unanimously approved by the Haddonfield Board of Education represents cuts, and we have to support the budget increase or the cuts will be even worse. I'll have more specific details on these cuts in future blog entries, but the 3.25% increase allows our district to keep most educational services in place. If the budget is not passed, then the educational cuts will be even more significant.
Now that we are not receiving state funding (NJ eliminated $1.5 million in state aid from our budget), I am very worried about Haddonfield's ability to sustain the high quality of our educational system. Passing the budget on April 20th will be an important step in trying to maintain the quality of our schools and our property values, but major changes will have to be made in the next 10-months or next year's budget situation will be even worse. I hope this blog will encourage you to get involved and give us a forum to share ideas.
I hope you'll become a "follower" of my blog, and that you'll return to read more in the next two weeks!
-Maureen
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