A recent letter was sent to the Brigantine Board of Education and School Superintendent. it came from the Brigantine Taxpayers Association (BTA). Here are some of the bullet pointed contained within:
Approx 1/3 of each tax dollar goes toward the school district, one that has declining enrollment and rising expenses.
- Declining Enrollment. 52 fewer students…year over year from 2015-16
- 9% drop, pre-k through 8th grade
- Duplicated & rising administrative costs
- Need for consolidation of two schools.
- School Board & Superintendent continue to reject fiscally responsible proposals
See: 11/2016 Press of Atlantic City article by Paul D’Amato. A graph shows Atlantic County school districts & administrative costs per student. The most expensive district is Brigantine….Linwood is the second most expensive.
Brigantine’s Test Scores. The 2016 PARCC test results are in. They are NOT good for Brigantine students or teachers.
Year after year, the people of Brigantine are told that we have great schools. Academically, that is false and misleading. Learning the fundamentals is why we have a public school. Some students do well, but far too many are not.
In most grades in English and Math, less than 50% of Brigantine students met grade expectations.
False praise and/or denial of serious academic problems in the face of these hard facts are dishonest. They lull the public into complacency and harm the students who aren’t learning.
Parents, and all taxpayers of Brigantine are being kept in the dark about these facts. Local papers rarely report on this data…or on what transpires at the school board meetings.
We wonder: Why aren’t the School Board meetings shown on TV via Channel 97….or placed on Youtube for on-demand viewing at a later time?
30% of Brigantine property taxes are dedicated to our public schools. Time to let the sun shine in. Public knowledge is better than public ignorance.
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