To the Editor:

I’m a tax payer living in Princeton and I welcome and support the PCS expansion. It is only going to further benefit our community overall. I lived with my family in Princeton Township for more than 15 years and one of the primary reasons for that is the school system, PCS in particular. PCS has not only given a great academic education to my kids, but has also groomed them to have a balanced outlook towards various aspects of life. My kids are extremely happy to be part of the PCS network. PCS’s faculty are passionate and take great care in nurturing the best education possible with “no kid left behind” approach. Although the Princeton school system is great in general, PCS does set the bar very high from an academic education perspective, driving healthy competition to all schools in Princeton, which can only result in broader benefits to our community. PCS expansion will sure help many other parents like us in Princeton who are waiting eagerly to get a seat for their children in PCS.

Mohan Viswanathan

Cherry Valley Road 

———

To the Editor:

Princeton Charter School’s (PCS) proposal to expand its elementary school classes could help address existing overcrowding in the Princeton Middle and High Schools. PCS’s proposal to use an income-weighted lottery to expand its elementary school offerings was developed in response to projections of an influx of new students due to the recent development of apartment complexes in AvalonBay and Merwick-Stanworth. Since these new neighborhoods are expected to attract young families with elementary-school-age children, it makes sense to expand PCS’s Blue Ribbon award-winning education to that age and income group.

PCS currently serves elementary and middle school students at a cost of $15,300 per student compared to the $24,000 per student spent by the Princeton Public Schools (PPS). (These figures are apples to apples comparisons because they are based on publicly available data and exclude spending on special needs education.) This would be a good time for PCS to expand because PPS has not built any additional classrooms or hired new teachers to accommodate these new elementary-school-age children yet. By absorbing 60 new K-2 students before PPS has incurred sunk costs, PCS is offering to pass-on savings of $8,700 per student to PPS that can be used to address some of the overcrowding in its Middle and High School. That sounds like a win-win solution to me.

Smita Brunnermeier

Maclean Circle