It’s the district’s responsibility

The Monroe school board wants to explore its options before deciding how to pay for a new high school — yes, pay for a new high school already approved by voters.

The problem is that the $82.9 million approved by voters in 2003 is about $36 million less than the building is now estimated to cost. Part of the cost hike is due to a slower-than-anticipated process surrounding a complicated land swap between Middlesex County and the township that needs state Green Acres approval — a delay that has pushed back the start of construction.

As we said in an earlier editorial, there is plenty of blame to go around on this and it is incumbent upon the board to get the project moving.

The increased price tag, however, has added another wrinkle to a controversial project (there is some opposition to the land swap locally and among the state’s environmental community). Were the state to give final approval tomorrow, the district would still need to figure out how to pay the balance of the project — or whether it might have to scale back its plans.

The board has asked its Finance Committee to look into the matter and may turn to the township for help.

That raises some concerns. The township already has done as much as it can — the land swap made a lot of sense and helped save the district on property acquisition. To ask the township to get further involved would be an abdication of responsibility on the part of the board: A township contribution to the project would not necessarily safe taxpayers money, but would allow the district to reduce the amount for which it seeks approval from the voters. This would be disingenuous — a bureaucratic game of three-card monte.

It also would be a financial mistake: The board can charge Jamesburg for a portion of the interest on the high school project, because Jamesburg accounts for about a fifth of the student body; the township cannot. That would lessen Jamesburg’s potential contribution (I don’t wish to imply that the district should soak Jamesburg, but that the borough should pay its fair share).
In the end, I think there is only one legitimate option: Scale back the design for the new school, cutting its potential pricetag, and ask voters to fund that figure. It is the only fair thing to do.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

A boost in aid

Aid figures are out and it appears that the governor is keeping his word to suburban schools. South Brunswick is looking at a 5 percent increase ($20.16 million from $19.2 million), Monroe ($4.33 million from $4.2 million) and Cranbury 3 percent ($727,735 from $706,539) and Jamesburg a whopping 8.3 percent ($3.96 million from $3.66 million) — not huge increases by any stretch, but more than any hike in a long time.

While the aid increases should help offset the need for some property taxes, they remain far below what is necessary to help growing districts like Monroe and South Brunswick keep up with the particular intersection of enrollment hikes and inflation with which they must live.

Consider, however, that South Brunswick will be looking at a budget of something in the neighborhood of $125 million, meaning that state aid makes up just 15 percent of the total. The percentage in Cranbury is about 6 percent.

For the state to address the property tax problem, it will need to address this funding flaw. I don’t know what the correct number is, but if the state paid about half the cost of education in a district like South Brunswick, it would cut between 50 and 60 cents off a $2-plus tax rate. The same kind of percentage cuts would be felt across the state.

That said, the state would need to come up with the money for the aid — either by raising taxes or through some other creative, but sustainable way of raising revenue.

I don’t know if this is the correct approach, but it a drastic approach, a wholesale revision of the way we do business as opposed to the nibbling at the edges envisioned by the four joint committees.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Random thoughts: Waiting for opening day

John — the news editor here — gets on my case when I get too optimistic about the Mets, but after last season I can’t help it. No doubt, this is a team with flaws — I don’t trust that Jose Valentin can repeat what he did at second last year and there are questions (age-related) about the corner outfield spots.

But the biggest question marks remain the starting pitching. There are an abundance of arms in camp, though it is unclear whether anyone beyond Tom Glavine will provide meaningful innings — and he’s 41. Orlando Hernandez, for instance, set to be the No. 2 starter, already has tweaked himself and missed a few workouts. This wouldn’t be a big deal except he is somewhere between 39 and 163 years old.

Then we have the rest, an interesting mixed bag that includes last year’s surprise (John Maine), a potential diamond in the rough (Oliver Perez, from whom I am predicting big things), a few up-and-comers who may not be ready (Humber and Pelfrey), some retreads (Chan Ho Park, Aaron Sele, Dave Williams when he recovers from his surgery) and some others.

The name not being discussed because it appears the team is committed to his relief role is Aaron Heilmann. This is too back — he may be the best of the bunch.

The issue is of concern because the Phillies have added arms — Adam Eaton and Freddy Garcia. Garcia is a workhorse, though nothing more than a middle-of-the-rotation guy; Eaton possesses electric stuff but has had trouble staying on the mound, but when added to Brett Myers, Cole Hamel and the oldies Jon Lieber and Jamie Moyers, there is depth, if nothing else. I like Hamels, but the Phillies would be crazy to expect too much from him too soon. He may be the next stud arm in the NL — or he could be Mark Prior, a heralded phenom forced into the limelight too quickly.

Certainly, the Phils have the better starting staff, but the Mets bullpen is deep and strong and the Met lineup is far better, going six deep (Alou is a great hitter even at his advanced age, far better and more consistent than the oft-injured Floyd and certainly more reliable than the overrated and overpaid Pat Burrell, his counterpoint in Philly).

Think about it this way: Ryan Howard maybe the best hitter on either team, but it is the only lineup spot where the Phillies have an advantage:

  1. At best Jimmy Rollins matches Jose Reyes (I take Reyes without much thought).
  2. Paul LoDuca is a fabulous No. 2, while Shane Victorino remains unproven.
  3. As good as Chase Utley is in the three hole, Beltran is that much better.
  4. Ryan Howard is better than Carlos Delgado — this is the negative image of the three hole.
  5. David Wright or Pat Burrell? Do you have to ask?
  6. Moises Alou or Aaron Rowland? The only question is whether Alou plays enough.
  7. Shawn Green or Wes Helms? Does it matter? Helms is a fine bench player and it is likely that Abraham Nunez will get a lot of time here.
  8. Jose Valentin or Rod Barajas? Valentin is the better hitter, though there is no guarantee he’ll be in the lineup everyday.

The Marlins have some outstanding young arms and there always is the Braves. But the Mets are the reigning division champs — by 12 games — and were a nasty curveball away from a triip to the fall classic a year ago. Have the Phillies made up the 12 games? My sense is no. But I don’t want to get too optimistic (though isn’t that what spring is all about?) — or John will be forced to take me down a peg.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Runner’s diary, Monday

Been a few weeks, I guess, since I’ve updated the world (like it cares) on my running progress, but here it is: After a couple of weeks with a lone three-mile run, I did a three-miler today on the treadmill at a slow pace with tight hamstrings and quads and sore knees. I hate getting old.

Today on teh iPod: The Arctic Monkeys.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Pointing to the future of newspapers?

Jeff Jarvis’ offers some interesting ideas on the potential nexus between blog-like online publications and traditional newspapers on his BuzzMachine blog. The gist of his argument can be summed up with his opening line:

Try this on as a new rule for newspapers: Cover what you do best. Link to the rest.

It is, as I said, an interesting idea, one worth considering, though I’m not sure how useful it will be for community weeklies like the Post and Press that focus on the most local of issues.

For bigger dailes — especially for papers like The New York Times and The Washington Post — this may be an approach that can allow them to provide real, useful and important news without ignoring the fluff and celebrity stuff that seems to be of interest to many out there. It is a way of targeting resources toward their best use.

“(I)n the age of the link,” Jarvis writes, the old ways are inefficient and self-defeating.

You can link to the stories that someone else did and to the rest of the world. And if you do that, it allows you to reallocate your dwindling resources to what matters, which in most cases should be local coverage.

This changes the dynamic of editorial decisions. Instead of saying, “we should have that” (and replicating what is already out there) you say, “what do we do best?” That is, “what is our unique value?” It means that when you sit down to see a story that others have worked on, you should ask, “can we do it better?” If not, then link. And devote your time to what you can do better.

We make this decision nearly everyday, picking and choosing what to cover, how much space and time to devote and how to play it. No newspaper can cover everything or devote the kind of resources we would like to the stories we do cover. And our resources are shrinking at a lightning pace.

So we have to rethink the “architecture of news” by finding new ways to cover things. Is the Jarvis model the right one? Perhaps, though there maybe other approaches. It is, however, something that is very much worth thinking about.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.