It’s a good point - impact to learning may be marginal given the peer group, but it could certainly impact comfort.

Eg larger class sizes, classes taught in hallways. Even basics like air conditioning - the air conditioner in a prek class broke last year, and one of the parents told me the school wouldn’t accept donation money to get it fixed. Maybe if he had fought more he could have made it happen, but it may just be more productive to pay the higher taxes and live with the attendant corruption.

I expect developers to want taxes to be as low as possible regardless of impact to schools in order to sell more units - most new units are not big enough to accommodate families.

That said I don’t get the impression that the Change for Children candidates are operating in bad faith; I just don’t have a good way to evaluate the risks they may pose.

Thanks - I am genuinely on the fence here as my taxes did go up significantly. I wish more background was available on why layoffs were thought to be needed in 2019 - I asked him in a followup question, but didn’t get a response.

Look I certainly understand the frustration - I am simply pessimistic about the likelihood of fixing an urban school district in the US over the course of the five years my children are likely to attend elementary school here.

PS16 is probably one of the best zoned urban elementary schools in the entire country, and certainly the state of NJ - I am sufficiently impressed the BoE has not ruined it, I’m not looking for miracles.

Thanks - good thoughts. Also, to clarify my point above, I’m saying my school tax levy is less than private school tuition for two children.

Thanks, I appreciate the response, but this does not quite answer my question as the board does not necessarily decide if the district will choose to conduct layoffs rather than cut wasteful spending to favored contractors or nepotism.

Perhaps a better a way to ask this question: Why were teacher layoffs required in 2019 and were they justified?

Ultimately for those of us with children at PS16, as long as the school levy increases are not higher than private school tuition for two children, it doesn’t seem worth risking seeking economies, no matter how justified they might be. Curious for any feedback you may have.