The Jackson voters have made their voices heard loud and clear: they do not believe spending more funds on education is fiscally responsible or necessary. The challenge now is to figure out what the right budget amount should be and how to distribute these tax dollars to meet the educational goals and objectives of the district.

The choice for the Board of Education is now to decide whether the budget defeat will have a greater impact on the children they serve or result in a re-examination of the employer-employee relationship and associated costs. Will this result in a loss of educational programs, increased class sizes, deferred repairs, courtesy busing — all of which affect the children and their education directly — or will it result in a change [of] district employees’ compensation?

The district goals are for smaller class sizes, safety of our students and fiscal responsibility. The board speaks on behalf of the children, as the children have no vote in the election or the budget process.

The board must look at employee costs from a total compensation perspective and not just salary. Private industry has been operating in this mode for years. In Middletown the board and [union] reached an agreement for 4.7 percent, 4.5 percent and 4.3 percent in salary increases. If you add in health care cost increase estimates of 15 percent you have a potential compensation increase 19.7 percent, 19.5 percent and 19.3 percent. Where do they expect to find the funds for this?

In Jackson we have increased enrollment, frozen state aid, a defeated budget and new contracts currently being negotiated. If we follow the other districts in this folly, we may be looking at larger class sizes, reduced services, reduced programs, elimination of extracurricular activities, or deferred hiring of needed staff to keep the quality of education high. District employees are critical resources that make our district successful, but what is fair compensation for their services?

A teacher in Jackson with a B.A. starts at $41,270. They work 184 days in 10 months with a work day between 6.75 and 7.25 hours. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a graduate with a B.A. in accounting starts at $43,809. They work approximately 233 days in 12 months and a work day between eight and 12 hours per day. I think most taxpayers would agree Jackson is competitive on salary.

Benefits seem more than competitive; in fact, in some areas they are generous to a point of folly in today’s tough economic environment, and some areas such as longevity pay are archaic. The board must take action in this area to fight for fiscally responsible programs that provide coverage for the employees at a cost acceptable to the taxpayers. The district public employees must recognize that contributions to their health care are a necessary part of keeping our district financially sound and productive.

There are difficult choices ahead for the board, the district employees, the taxpayers and the children of our school district. I encourage the taxpayers and parents of Jackson to take an objective view of what is important to the educational future of our children. Make your school board representative and community hear your voices at the board meetings now, while negotiations are in process, not after they have been concluded. The future of education in Jackson will be decided by your action, or lack of action on this important issue.

Dan Gross

Jackson

Oreo’s owner thanks Howell community for help in search

I am writing this letter to thank the Howell community. My family moved from Jackson to the Salem Hill development in Howell in late December. Since our move we have spent much time renovating and decorating that it never left us much time to meet the new community.

Though not how we wanted, all this changed on March 26 when Oreo, our 4-year-old black and white cat with big green eyes, got out of the house.

In acts of desperation we contacted the Howell police, the local humane society, the SPCA, and have now posted 2,500 fliers in local supermarkets, churches and surrounding mailboxes. Not knowing anyone in the area made it difficult to have faith in people.

To our amazement, we were wrong. In the past few weeks, countless phone calls have come in.

Some calls were sightings of a black and white cat that seemed to match Oreo’s picture. Some calls were questions in reference to Oreo and some were just kind people calling to assure us that they were praying and looking for Oreo every day.

As we walked the streets of the Salem Hill development, we were approached by numerous people, people we have never seen, asking us if we have found Oreo. We saw children walking with Oreo’s flier looking under cars and trees for her.

A retired police officer brought her dog, Casey, to our house to pick up the scent, and then she walked the neighborhood. On one occasion we were stopped by the Howell police and asked what we were doing as we put fliers into 1,300 mailboxes. We explained to him what and why we were doing this, and he actually asked us for a flier for his patrol car. He promised to keep a lookout for her as he patrolled the town.

Though Oreo has not found her way back home yet, we want to thank Howell for coming together to help us get through the heartache and tears we are currently enduring. It has been amazing and heartwarming to see people and their children out late at night, with flashlights, looking for a cat they don’t know.

A reward has been offered for Oreo’s safe return; however, the large number of people who have been helping us have made it clear they are not interested in money, but really just want us to be reunited with her.

Thank you, Howell, for coming together and helping us with this. If anyone has any information on Oreo, or if you may have taken her in, please call us at (732) 673-8000 or call the Howell police, or bring her to the humane society in Tinton Falls.

Tara Briley

Howell