Dear Editor,
The Cherry Hill community has an opportunity to make an investment in the future of generations of our school children by voting on October 4 to approve a bond referendum to make critical repairs and improvements to our school facilities.
We, the past leaders of the Cherry Hill Board of Education over four decades endorse this effort: Mona Noyes, Keith Herman, Andrew McIlvaine, Anne Einhorn, Robert Russo, Sharon Giaccio, Seth Klukoff, Kathy Judge, Carol Matlack, Lisa Saidel.
Since the 1980s, State Aid from Trenton has cumulatively fallen hundreds of millions below what was required to operate our community’s schools. While serving as members of the Board of Education we recognized the Cherry Hill School District had tough choices to make and we chose to maintain the quality of our educational program, while deferring needed maintenance and repairs.
We board members, parents, and community members have experienced first-hand the problems caused by the lack of resources necessary to both fund our educational program while maintaining our facilities.
Because voting for a bond referendum generates extra aid to offset the cost of paying principal and interest, voting for the bond is the only way to recover a substantial portion of what we have lost.
Approving the bond will directly benefit our students and our staff by providing a safe and healthy environment for teaching and learning, it will benefit our families and our neighborhoods through enhanced property values, and it will make our community more attractive for future generations of homeowners who move here with young families.
Now is the time to act; inaction now will delay making the necessary repairs while greatly increasing the ultimate cost. RThe future of generations of school children yet to come and the future of our community is at stake.
Andy McIlvaine
Cherry Hill
