Give us a direct vote on the school budget

To the Editor:
Here we go again. The Delaware Valley School District board of Education is going to increase our property taxes by another 2.27 percent. It should be clear by now that this school board is more aligned with the teachers union and other spending contingents than property taxpayers.

As is the case with most government and tax-supported institutions, effective expense control is a lost art. The cost of a public education per student per year is now $15,000 and more. It would be educational to know exactly what makes up this cost. In any case, I doubt that we can expect any meaningful fiscal policy changes within the established public education fiefdom.

At this juncture what is desperately needed is to give property taxpayers a direct vote on proposed school budgets. Nothing that the public school system provides or most of government services is worth being forced out of your home because of excessive taxation. Unless some highly needed budget constraints are put into effect, these pernicious tax increases will continue as if on auto-pilot. That is what happens when you can spend other people's money with little restraint.

The power to increase property taxes needs to be restricted and direct voter approval should be required. Give us a direct vote.

Karl H. Flail
Milford