MILLSTONE — Emotions ran high at the Feb. 9 Board of Education meeting when board members started public discussion of a draft of the 2009-10 budget.

Voters have defeated the school district's proposed budgets four years in a row. As a result, the district has had to cut $750,000 in costs over the past three years, Board of Education President Tom Foley said.

Resident Ramon Recalde, one of the few members of the public to regularly attend board meetings, admonished the community and said, "Shame on us. We can't even pass a budget in this town."

Board member Kevin McGovern said, "This community has got to pass a budget."

McGovern noted that the expected increase in the average homeowner's school taxes this year would be $300 if the board voted to adopt the budget draft and voters passed it.

"That's less than a dollar per day per house," he said. "Can't we do this?"

Board member Sergio Galindo said that people are losing their jobs and wealth in the current economic climate.

"Imagine waking up one day and having nothing," he said. "No benefits, no job, nothing. We couldn't pass [the budget] in the best of times. It's people's lives, and it's going to get worse."

Board member Sal Casale said hundreds of thousands of people are out of work, and the economy has reached a breaking point.

Foley said he sees the validity of both viewpoints.

"In my opinion, we shouldn't spend a penny more than we did last year," he said.

He added that "a dollar a day" is a "different perspective" in the current economic climate.

Fourth-grade teacher and resident Irene Pearson said the district's staff is outstanding but pushed to the limit.

"I think we have all reached a breaking point in this district, and something needs to change," she said.

The Board of Education and the Millstone Township Education Association (MTEA) are currently in negotiations over teachers' contracts. Pearson serves on the MTEA negotiating committee.

While the MTEA started negotiating for a 6 percent raise in the salaries, the school district's budget draft offers no increase. The negotiations reached an impasse and both parties are awaiting third-party intervention.

Board member Doreen Beaumont said all the board members want to give teachers what they deserve, but they remain restricted as to what they can do.

"Each time the budget doesn't pass, we're one step back," she said.

Foley said he believes the system that funds public education has failed.

"People's taxes can no longer support developing educational infrastructure," he said. "We have politicians in Trenton who are more interested in themselves than on behalf of the whole."

Foley told Pearson that if she could set up a meeting in Trenton with the commissioner of education, every board member would attend.