We, citizens of South Orange and Maplewood, urge the Board of Education NOT to approve the construction of a new pool at Columbia High School, which would require $8.1 million of debt to finance.

South Orange-Maplewood’s property taxes are already excessive. We cannot afford to deepen our school system’s ballooning budget shortfall (estimated to reach $17.4 million by 2018) by building this unnecessary luxury project. More importantly, we cannot sacrifice educational programming to make annual debt payments in excess of $600,000 for a new pool.

The Board of Education must be fiscally responsible and use its limited resources for the greatest educational impact. The Board of Education must focus on its core academic mission and stabilize taxes!