On to the BOE!

Many thanks to the people who supported me with a vote in yesterday's BOE election. I finished with the second-highest vote count among the five candidates (for three seats) and am eager to join a Board that, in my humble opinion, has done a great job of overseeing our district's expenditures and being fiscally responsible without compromising education. As testament to this argument, Tinton Falls was one of few budgets to pass in what was seemingly a statewide taxpayer revolt against NJEA's oblivious unwillingness, in many cases, to share the pain felt nationwide amid reported (and likely understated) unemployment of 10% and stagnant economic recovery. For anyone in the private sector who pays $1k per month to get lackluster health coverage or has not had a raise in years, the outcries about a 1.5% healthcare contribution or flat salary lack any compassion and border on a mix of absurdity and selfishness.

I will be but one of many voter-chosen voices on the TF BOE and appreciate anyone's input during my three years on the BOE, although I'm hopeful to introduce two primary ideas off the bat: going after the federal government for the impact aid that TF deserves for educating Navy dependents who live at Earle (at present, TF only gets about $2,500-$3,000 per child, far below the $14k it costs us to educate one child in our district and equating to about a $750,000-$1 million annual subsidy to our borough) and seeking structural reform on the state-level with regard to collective bargaining, for next year - or perhaps recurring annually - we'll be in the same budget mess and probably face taxpayer revolt without any major structural change in the way public schools do business. In my view, a resolution is not as simple as freezing teachers' salaries this year or merging 3 districts into 1, but rather, will entail collective effort on behalf of ALL state BOE's to unite to pare healthcare and recurring employee retirement benefits on the state level and push for changes in the collective bargaining system that return at least SOME power to local officials.

Running for the Tinton Falls Board of Education

Friends of Tinton Falls,

As a borough resident of nine years, involved parent to a daughter and son at Atchison School, Chairman of nonpartisan grassroots group Neighbors Opposed to Privatization at Earle (NOPE), and in my third year as a volunteer coach in the rec program, I firmly believe in serving the Tinton Falls community and am running for one of three seats on the Board of Education.

On these merits, I ask for your support in Tuesday's (April 20) BOE election (line 3) and that you refer me to friends and relatives in Tinton Falls; but even if your votes go elsewhere, please be sure to support our children by voting in favor of a 2010-11 budget that, after attending the three BOE budget meetings in March, is fiscally responsible and serves our kids well.

My approach as a prospective BOE member will focus on being professional, respectful and open-minded, much like my chairmanship of NOPE, which (contrary to widespread opinion), through grassroots efforts, practicality and hard work gained bipartisan support up to the U.S. Senate and has succeeded on our community's behalf. No other candidates can lay claim to potentially saving Tinton Falls from a hundreds-million-dollar unfunded mandate that would have stemmed from civilian housing at NWS Earle. The outcome was far more optimistic than when I attended my first BOE meeting back in late-2007.

From this experience, I view myself as a worthy complement to a Board that performs a tremendous service and sacrifices countless hours to the benefit of the kids of our borough, and offer fresh perspective regarding how we can better lead Tinton Falls within the context of ludicrous state funding cuts and insufficient federal impact aid for military dependents, whom we embrace in our community but are grossly underfunded by the federal government to educate.

I invite you to visit my LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/in/billholobowski) for more on my professional background and invite any return comments or questions by email or phone. Otherwise, I am open to meeting one-on-one with community or neighborhood groups (if you are a part of one), but will not engage in, for lack of a better term, a "political campaign."

Again, please forward this to your Tinton Falls contacts, and get out and vote on April 20.

Kind regards,
Bill Holobowski
56 Neville Street, 07724
C: 732.322.0130
H: 732.544.8595