I'm writing this because I am amazed at how much money we are expected to pay for education in our state.

I live in a nice town with good, friendly people in it, so I enjoy living here. The township is East Brunswick, and the taxes are high. They say the reason is because of our superior school system. They claim this school system being so great will help keep our property values high because people will want to live here and raise their families here.

I like that way of thinking, and I believe it to be true because the people of this town are good people and it's a great place to live; but, at the same time, the education process is killing us. My taxes are more than $7,000, and 60 percent of that is for the school portion. Then Gov. Jon Corzine just borrowed billions of dollars to fund the school system of New Jersey. Who is going to pay for it? We are, you and I.

What is that final price tag going to be? Now that our state is in a recession and people are having a hard time paying their bills, the governor is going to reduce aid to our townships and school systems, so we are going have to raise our local taxes more, and that means more to be raised for the school system out of our pockets.

I can't speak for everyone, but to me this will be expensive. I'm in my late 50s, retired from my job of 30 years and have a small pension to live on, so taxes are very important to me, and, quite frankly, I don't know how long I can afford to live here the way taxes are rising in East Brunswick.

I don't have any children and never received any benefit from paying such high school taxes. After elementary school I never used the public school system. I don't mind chipping in and paying for my neighbors' children to get a good education, because I feel it is my moral obligation to the youth of today. But when does it stop? We can't afford to pay any school system administratormoremoney than the president of the United States. I know there are competent people out there who can do the job at a reasonable pay.

I am one of the people who voted against the budget because I felt they can do the job of educating our youth with a smaller budget in place. If the parents want to better educate their children in such things as band or other extra activities, then they, not I, should pay for these things.

What really hurts is that after I pay for this education and I say to the people in charge of the education system that it's not working, they have to cut corners and do a better job, I get attacked by the likes of Bonny Berger Kelter ("Would Anti-Budget Seniors Have Once Supported School Tab?," Sentinel, Letters to the Editor, July 10) telling me to pack my bags and get out of town if I don't like the budget.

Well, I would like to tell Ms. Kelter that I don't want to get out of town. I have my family here. I was raised here. I worked all my life here, and I enjoy living here. I'm staying if I can afford to. So why don't you put people in the job who make it so I can stay here and be with my family, and your children can still be educated, instead of me having to move to Florida or some other state?
Allen Loyer
East Brunswick