Schools

Meet the Candidates: Frank Herbert

This week, Patch interviews this year's Board of Education Candidates.

Though he’s been involved in local government for several years, a goal of more stable property taxes prompted Frank Herbert’s decision to run for Board of Education.

 “I’m really looking to see stable property taxes in Hillsborough,” Herbert said.  “In the 17 years, the Consumer Price Index has gone up 40 percent.  The school taxes have gone up 120 percent.  For seniors in town, that’s a big issue.”

“It’s becoming more expensive to live in Hillsborough,” he added.  “Even for young people, it’s a concern.  The past couple years, it’s slowed down up it’s still a concern.”

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The 38-year resident is a retired electrical engineer, having worked for AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Andrew Corporation.  He and his wife, Eileen, have three grown children and two grandchildren.  During his years in Hillsborough, he was active in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and now serves on the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment and Capital Planning Committee.

The recent economic downturn also prompted the decision to run for an open school board seat, he said.  Herbert and five other residents will be running for the three open board seats during this year’s election.

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“We just don’t have enough money to pay for everything anymore,” he said.  “That’s one of the reasons I want to get involved. At the local level, that’s where you can actually make a difference by getting involved in your school board or township committee.”

But unlike past years, Herbert will support the budget this year, citing both the minimal tax increase and the avoidance of staff layoffs in the teaching or support staff.

“In past years, I would have definitely been against the (tax) increase,” Herbert said.  “I was very proud of the HEA with how they cooperated with the board.”

Hebert also expressed his support of the district’s proposals for generating revenue, including its proposal for a full-day kindergarten where parents would pay tuition for students to attend the second half of the day.

If elected, Herbert hopes to serve on the finance committee—everybody is interested in finance, he said—and on the facilities committee, since it is related to his work on the Capital Planning Committee.  Herbert also serves on the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

“We have to start maintaining our facilities again,” he said.  “The question is where is the money going to come from for that.”

One of his primary concerns is budget development and analyzing the existing expenses.

“In the past, once something was in the budget, it was always in the budget,” Herbert said.  “One of the principals in budgeting is that everything should be on the table.  Especially the optionals.”

Herbert suggested checking the district’s programs for participation rates and relevance and considering whether to cut programs that are out-of-date or unused.

“It doesn’t make sense if you’re spending a lot of money for something for something that is not really used,” he said.

At this point, Herbert says he would need to investigate the existing programs to form his opinion on the various areas.

“At the moment, going in, I’m opinion-neutral,” he said.  “Once I’m in, I’ll be looking at all the programs that are in place.”

Interested residents can find additional information on Herbert’s campaign website, http://herbertforboe.blogspot.com/.


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