Summit Taxpayers Association (STA)

Summit Public Schools

Summit is fortunate to have very good public schools. While the STA supports the efforts of our teachers and school district, we are also concerned at the rate at which school spending continues to increase far beyond the growth of student population.

If you would like to attend our monthly meeting please call us at 908-273-1660 or contact us by email for further information on where we are meeting and the time.

Do you know of things happening around your area that the STA should know about? We look forward to hearing from you about your tax concerns. >> Contact Us

Click HERE to see the proposed 2010-2011 Summit School District Budget. If adopted, this budget woud raise local school taxes by 5.6%.

Taxpayers at large should approve the School Budget; Not a Board of School Estimates.

The Summit Board of School Estimates voted unanimously to approve the 2008/09 budget of $ 58 M. How can the budget be approved, if the teachers’ contract negotiations are still ongoing with the Education Association? The State mandated budget cap of 4% was surpassed by more than 2 million dollars, the increase amounts to 7.3%. Taxpayers again face higher property taxes.

Summit has very good public schools. What is the rationale for this increase? Board members as well as parents explained that the strength of Summit’s residential home market is based on the excellence of its schools. Parents also believe that it takes a highly paid Superintendent of Schools and Administration to keep school quality high.

What is fact and what is fiction with these correlations?

Summit’s residential market values are directly related to the rail connection and easy access to the financial district in Manhattan, especially the Midtown Direct. After 9/11/01 families living in N.Y City moved out to New Jersey along the rail corridor, making Summit and Short Hills among the most desirable towns.  Consequently home values increased substantially. School performance is a function of this demographic and economic development and not vice versa.

If the assumption was right that quality of public schools is dependent on a highly paid Superintendent then Newark would have the most excellent public schools in New Jersey. Their Superintendent in 2007/08 earned more than $ 250,000, plus benefits. Ever increasing employee pay, and free healthcare, actually has nothing directly to do with excellence of education. Because 85% to 90% of the school budget is spent just for salaries and benefits the only conclusion can be: “It is not for the Children it is for Administrators and Teachers”!

And what about Summit’s excellence? How more excellent is excellence and what are the criteria for it?

Because of the school budget, Summit has the highest average property taxes in Union County.

Let us review the Total Average SAT scores of Union County High Schools as an argument:

Summit High in 2007 scored a Total Average SAT of 1740, which is 189 points behind Union County Magnet High School with 1929 points. In each of the individual test subjects, Verbal, Math and Writing, Magnet High is ahead. However, in a salary comparison Summit is by far ahead. Higher pay does not mean better education.

As far as real excellence is concerned, we should ask what education is needed for our students to compete in the global economy.  Our high school graduates are facing competitors with superior education from Asia, India and Europe. To graduate from High School in Europe students have to pass stringent final exams. They have to be able to converse in two foreign languages, have to master math on a calculus level and must have substantial knowledge in chemistry, physics, biology and geography. Verbal and writing are a given. How would our high school graduates fare under these conditions?

Isn’t it time that all Summit taxpayers, Parents, non-Parents and Seniors get together and demand from its education establishment continuing quality schooling without overburdening taxpayers.

If school employees paid a fair percentage of their health insurance premiums, the quality of education would not be reduced, but the tax burden could be eased. Changes in Summit should start with an Elected Board of Education. Taxpayers should vote to approve the budget. Anything less means taxation without representation.