Council must act to resolve school budget issue

On behalf of all the students in the North Brunswick school system, I encourage the Township Council to quickly resolve the school budget issue.

Any cut greater than the $300,000 as recently commented on by council President Francis "Mack" Womack will cause important and necessary programs to be cut to the detriment of the children.

This budget was defeated by only 49 votes in the lowest voter turnout (7 percent) in 12 years. There is no mandate for anything but a reasonably minimal cut.

The North Brunswick Board of Education presently and in the past has shown great fiscal responsibility in keeping our per-pupil cost well below the average of similarly sized school districts.

Unlike most surrounding school districts, in an effort to save costs, North Brunswick school district employees are not offered family medical benefits until after three years of employment.

This is just one example of how our Board of Education is working hard to keep the cost of educating our children reasonable. Any further delay will cause uncertainty in the school district with regard to future employment of untenured teachers. This is simply detrimental to the North Brunswick educational process.

The town council should act quickly and in a way that our children’s education is not negatively affected.

Jim Curran

North Brunswick