There were once two brothers. One brother used his tax refund money to repair his house so that his children would be safe and warm and he would save much more money from his utility bills in the winter.
The younger brother used his tax refund money to throw a summer barbecue for his neighbors so that they might think him a fine fellow and perhaps speak highly of him for awhile.
Winter came, the older brother's family was safe and warm, the younger brother's children suffered from the cold, and the neighbors had long forgotten the summer barbecue.

Education should be funded through sales and income taxes..... not property taxes...

Same old BOE who let the schools run into the ground. For 38$ we could have matching funds. Just dumb.

It's a good thing my kids only have a few more years in the Brick School system. Hopefully they will both graduate before Brick High School is condemned.

If they had applied the money to projects that had ROD grants attached, the 1.3-million would have given us 2.1-million in capital repairs/improvements. These repairs/improvements will still have to be done but will now cost the taxpayer more then they saved.

Only in New Jersey do they call a tax increase a "savings." A better descrption would be a "reduction in the proposed tax increase." No reduction in a tax increase is a savings. Get with it!

I agree with you all. This is just an election ploy. They do not care about the well being of the schools, or the children. Shame on you.

They are doing this so everyone votes YES on the referendum they are planning to ask for money for capitol improvements. Ahhhh the politics in Brick never stop now do they?

Schools need repairs! This problem is not going away. Should be taking care NOW. That would have been best for our children. They need schools they could be proud of not run down building they call schools

Public schools are a waste of money. I would never send my kid to Brick public schools.

And this is why I would choose to spend the $55 now instead of $3000 per year from grades K-6, and then however else much from grades 7-12 to make sure my child wasn't at a competitive disadvantage when applying to college.

Money isn't always the answer, but allocating resources towards improving academic courses and the conditions of the buildings should be of paramount importance to this district.

The sad reality is, if they voted for improvements in the schools, and someone's school was not in that plan then there would be complaining. I have lived here for 23 years and have found that "WE" do alot of complaining, but do not get together for a change. You the voter voted for the tax increase. (Not I by the way). And now you want to blame "them". I wish someone complained, then gave their opinion on how to specifically change this problem. No we just complain.....what a shame, buying my time to move from Brick....

You all made your bed now sleep in it.... You voted yes to raise our taxes because our wonderful politicians scared you into thinking that there will be less cops, more crime and OMG no one to pick up your garbage!!! Then you all voted no to the school budget......

Reelection scam as usual!!! Does anyone know where all the lottery money goes? I thought it was supposed to be to the Seniors and to Education!! I have thought for a very long time that this should be thoroughly invesitagated. Brick schools are in dire need of repairs. What a shame for our kids.

Contrary to what is being said here, this board has allocated more money in capital improvments than any other board in 20 years. This was an opportunity to five a little back to the residents who give so generously to fund our schools, maybe now that this insightful board has done this small token, future budgets will pass. I think putting over 6 million in capital projects for one year is very responsible. More than any other board can say. Don't condem this board until you have to sit intheir seats. It's very easy for Mrs. Terebush and Mr. Cuppari to criticize, aren't they the ones who votedd out middle school sports last year? So much for "caring about the kids". Who is playing politics? Mrs. Terebush wants to be re-elected and her running mates, Fischer, Barton and Reinhold will do anything to desperately be there with her.

Schools need to be repaired. Books need to be bought. Supplies are needed. It has nothing to do with Middle School sports. It's very nice that we are getting a tax relief. However down the line you will have to pay for all that needs to be done to the schools. So this extra money would have helped. I am grateful that both my kids did well in Brick. I am so happy though that they have graduated. This Board of Ed. wants you to believe that they are doing the right thing. But for the next 3-4 years, you will not see one repair done. Just curious-does anyone on the board have children in the District any longer? If not, they really don't care about the repairs that need to be done. Otherwise they would have voted for them instead of voting with their alliances.

Mr. Campbell has been on the BOE for a month and is the only one on the BOE not elected by the residents. He's calling the shots? Something is very askew, to say the least.

I find it strange that so many people disagree with the way the board voted but not one of them showed up at last nights meeting to voice their concerns.ALL of the people who spoke were FOR the tax refund.Six million ( $ 6,000,000 ) HAS BEEN ALLOATED for capital improvements ,some already done.Watch for pictures and reports of the projects.It took 25 years of neglect for the schools to get in their present condition,don't expect to fix it in one year unless you are willing to add another $172,000,000 to our tax bill.The people who voted yes and the school administration wanted to spend the money to keep the tax levy inflated by $1.3 million more because of the 2%cap.What have they spent on capital improvements in the last 5 years? What did they put in their original capital budget this year? 000000.

Voice my concerns!? It still would have been a 4-3 vote!

Some of the schools are in such disrepair with ancient heating systems, a/c that isn't effective besides leaking/ineffective windows. This money would have been an answer to some of those problems. People move into towns where the voters make education a priority, and vote through school budgets. Since this budget went down, and in my opinion because of the way the voting booth was arranged, we really could have done something positive for the schools with this money plus the grant money. $38.00 in my pocket, big deal! This BOE isn't seeing the forest for the trees!

At the Thursday, July 21st Board of Education Meeting, the Community Facilities Committee will be making a presentation on their proposal to improve our school facilities. All members of the public are invited to attend.

I wonder if anyone stopped to calculate how much $2.1M would cost each home owner in taxes before deciding to reduce the tax burden by $38?

The Community Facilities Committee made up of community leaders, parents, senior citizens, and technical experts have served and volunteered their time on behalf of the citizens of Brick since 2007. After years of hard work we will be making a recommendation to the Brick Board of Education to improve our schools.

In order to gain the Board of Education’s approval of the projects recommended by the committee, we need the support of, YOU, the public.

We are asking for your attendance so that we, the VOTERS, can be given the right to vote on whether or not we want these improvements made to our schools with the help of the State of New Jersey paying 40% of the bill.

That’s right! 40% of the total costs will be paid by the state! Come find out more!

When: Thursday, July 21, 2011
Where: Brick Township High School
Time: 7pm

this is WRONG !!!!

the taxpayers on the water are going to get back more than $38 and this is just not fair !

Brick Memorial High School ranks 149th in NJ for test scores.
Brick High School ranks at 118 in NJ.
We also have a massive (and growing) influx of non-English speaking students in the school system which is no doubt taxing resources. This past year I chaperoned a class-trip with my child's class in LRMS and there were several students that did not speak English - and they had to bring an ESL teacher along specifically to translate.
So - while I'm sure having air-conditioning in the schools and more efficient heating would be nice for the administrations - I am more concerned about the fact that we have a very low standard of "education" in those schools to begin with.
I don't tend to want to contribute money into a system that fails to produce. Show me that you can actually educate these kids, and I will be glad to contribute to your funtions. My own children know that failure is not rewarded. But their educators do not.

Im taking my big $38.78 savings and running with it. WooHoo!!

I was under the impression that the Board of Ed's job is to work for the students. If they are so interested in tax relief, perhaps they should run for council.

Dear School Board Members, I encourage you to read the following:

"School Board members uphold and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the State Board of Education, and court orders pertaining to schools. Responsibility of School Board Members in New Jersey is confined to policy-making, planning and appraisal, and helping frame policies and plans after consultation with those affected by them. A Board Member's responsibility is not to administer the schools, but to see that they are well run. Each member of a board of education, before entering upon the duties of his office, takes an oath of office. Each member is required to abide by a state-mandated Code of Ethics for School Board Members, which includes making decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children, developing, and maintaining public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of ability, race, creed, sex or social standing."

Funny, I see nothing in there that even remotely says anything about it being your responsibility to concern yourselves with tax relief...YOU WERE VOTED IN TO ACT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILDREN!!!

The App states 8 citizens attended this meeting and this Patch article clearly shows at least 25 citizens that would have preferred the other outcome. Was it a block party for one of the Board members that will be getting a bigger piece of the pie? Yes it was. Rmember that the Brick School Board's MO is too make decisions that are causing the school district to spiral out of control, and then mums the word. Hello, everyone needs to speak up and get our schools fixed.