Iam a senior citizen and a property owner living on a fixed income and 60 percent of my tax dollar goes to fund the schools in the district, and I am opposed to superintendents and administrators receiving hefty retirement packages such as Barbara A Trzeszkowski, superintendent of Keansburg, who was to receive $741,000; however, it is under review.

Then there was Joseph Passiment, a business administrator for the Manalapan-Englishtown schools, who was to receive $152,908 plus his $80,000 a year pension in his contract, and the school district has cut this by 50 percent which means $75,887 will go back to the classrooms where it belongs. However, do not feel sorry for him because he is getting a job with the state as a county executive business administrator, which pays $95,000 a year. My daughter is a teacher in Fairfax County, Va., and they have one superintendent for over 200 schools.

We have 611 school districts and only 566 municipalities, which is more than 44 other states. Of these school districts, 23 have no schools, 172 have only one school, and 143 have less than 500 students. Our administrative cost is 75 percent higher than the national average of 31 percent, higher than the closest state, Michigan. If New Jersey were to have 21 county superintendents who made an annual salary of $251,457, the total cost would be $5.2 million and this would result in a cost savings of $71.7 million in superintendents' salaries alone, and Monmouth County could save $7.1 million annually.

I am outraged by the money being wasted in our schools and you should be too. So contact your legislators and Department of Education Commissioner Lucille Davy by letter at 100 Riverview Executive Plaza, P.O. Box 500, Trenton, NJ 08625- 0500, or call 609-292-4469. When you write, tell them how you would solve the problem. Be sure the governor knows how you feel as he is looking to save money, but he has not looked there. Does the NJEA control that too?
James W. Harris Sr.
Red Bank