To the Editor:

We urge our neighbors to support the budget for the Princeton Schools. As citizens and taxpayers and the parents of four children who have graduated from our schools, we are grateful for the tradition of excellence. The budget proposed for 2012-13 is very conservative, but it maintains this tradition of excellence. In spite of growth in non-discretionary operating costs — energy, charters payments, health benefits, to name a few — and state aid losses of over a million dollars a year for the past three years compared with what was otherwise due under state funding formulas, the School Board has kept the budget within the 2 percent cap and allowed overall budget growth of only 1 percent over the prior year. This means an annual tax increase of under $200 per household on the average assessed home in the Borough and just a bit over $200 per household on the average assessed home in the Township. Yet school programs will remain strong and class sizes stable; overcrowding in some core classes at the high school will continue to be addressed; and the critically important smaller class sizes in the early elementary grades will be maintained. This is a well-crafted and prudent budget, mindful of economic realities while protective of our community’s long-standing investment in our public schools. Please vote “Yes” on Tuesday, April 17.

Walter and Mary Bliss
Moore Street