Prom season in New Jersey … break out the crashed car!

Every year around this time, the high schools in my district park a wrecked car in front of their schools. They want to drive home the point about driving recklessly around prom time.

It used to be just about drunk driving. Now they've added signs about the dangers of texting and driving. I have no problem with the message. I don't know how effective it is and how the teenage brain processes the images, but it's worth a try, right? Who doesn't want to save a new driver from making a fatal mistake? I certainly want to see teenagers get home safe from the prom. I also want to see college graduates come home from college and live in the communities they grew up in. With the outrageously high property taxes we have, driven by obscene public education costs here, that's become increasingly hard to do.

I've lost two of my three children to other lower-tax, reasonable states, for just this reason. So yeah, it's personal for me. How about the local school districts put up pictures of foreclosure signs or for sale signs on houses in town. How about they put up stats on how many people are fleeing this state once they're done with school. How about putting up stats about how many of the people who work in that school flee the state once their pension kicks in.

I'm just sick and tired of the pompous, elitist, unionized, over educated drones that work in these buildings coming up with clever ways to spend my money. We've recently seen videos of how they protect the worst of their own lot, just to protect the union. The NJEA is powerful and ruthless. There are some very good people that are members (many forced against their will) but the organization as a whole is a cancer in our state. And guess what...they're not going away. Their members might relocate, because they've made it unaffordable to stay, once they cash in way before most of us can stop working. Do you want to see a real wreck? Look at the money the state (YOU) pays out just to keep this unsustainable system going!

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