Sample ballots for the Dec. 8 North Brunswick School Board Bond Referendum will be mailed out on Dec. 2.
This referendum has been virtually clothed in secrecy. Aside from a few sparsely attended presentations by the superintendent of schools, very little about this $87 million bond issue has been disseminated to the public.
Why wasn’t this referendum on the ballot in the General Election? Was it by design or happenstance? Maybe it was to keep the spotlight off those Board of Education members running for re-election? When was there a town meeting to air the issues that this $87 million debt would resolve? Were there any alternate proposals? If so, what? Who are the ultimate beneficiaries of this capital plan?
Reducing class size by two students is not an $87 million issue. A new facility is not by itself a factor in a quality education. Ask those of us who graduated from facilities built before 1950.
In short, who are the beneficiaries: the bond attorneys, the bond holders, the engineers and architects, the contractors, a variety of vendors, the Board of Education supervisors and the school teachers and a great many more, too numerous to name, and last but not least, the students in whose name this issue has been raised.
Of course, the taxpayers will gain an $87 million debt.
Vote no on Dec. 8 on the special referendum at your local polling place.
Robert J. Boyd
North Brunswick