The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education will decide next week whether to split a proposed $129.6 million bond referendum into two ballot questions, a move that would mean voters will decide on the proposal in November rather than in October as officials had initially planned.
At a board meeting on July 10, district officials reviewed with one of their consultants what projects would be included in the questions, as well as the costs and tax impact to property owners.
“The first thing to keep in mind is that the scope of the range of improvements we are talking about remains the same, on the whole,” architect Scott Downie said in his presentation. “The question is really one of how they are packaged and presented to the community.”
Under a multiple question scenario, question one, totaling $80.8 million, would include a new school for fifth- and sixth-graders; acquiring land for new district administrative and other offices and related improvements; improving athletic fields; adding four classrooms and making other improvements at Princeton High School; and completing other capital projects at the four elementary schools and the John Witherspoon Middle School.
The $48.7 million second question would consist of the rest of the proposed renovations at the high school.
“I believe we do need it all for our kids,” Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said.
He said the projects in the first question contain “the most pressing, most critical” needs for a district facing rising enrollment.
“We also are listening to a community that is concerned about $129 million and the tax impact associated with that,” Cochrane said. “There is a desire to look at the question in such a way that gives choices to our community.”
If both ballot questions are approved, a resident who has a home assessed at the town’s average of $837,074 would see a tax hike, starting in 2020, of $289.30, followed by an increase of $372.26 in 2021. Overall, the increase averages $71.14 over the 30 years of the bond repayment, according to district administrators.
In terms of the next step, the board at its July 17 meeting must decide whether to have a one-question or two-question referendum. One board member sought to make the case for a two-question proposal.
“It would be great to do everything at once,” said board member Dafna Kendal, the chairwoman of the board’s facilities committee, which recommended having a two-question referendum. “I, personally, don’t think we can take a risk on the $130 million all together because if it doesn’t pass, we have nothing and we have big problems.”
If officials decide to have a two-question referendum, approval would be in a two-step process. The first question would have to pass for the second question to have a chance of being approved, Cochrane said.
On the other hand, voters could approve the first question, but reject the second one. In that scenario, administrators said, they would look in the coming years to have another referendum to pay for the projects that were proposed in the second question.
“If the second question were not to pass, we still have that need,” Cochrane said. “But we could regroup, redefine and come back to the community with some of the items in the second question.”
A large crowd of residents attended the board meeting and weighed in on the proposal during public comment.
Peter Madison, who was involved in school design and construction at the New Jersey School Development Authority, told the board what he had observed during his five years working there.
“Schools are generally overdesigned by architects striving to create state-of-the-art buildings regardless of the expense, because they’re not paying the expense, we are,” Madison said.
Susanna Monseau, who favors splitting the referendum, said she had never voted against a school referendum.
“I think it’s been somewhat insulting, at some of the previous meetings I’ve gone to, the suggestion we are all anti-tax,” Monseau said. “None of us would be living in Princeton if we felt that way.”
Lisa Jacknow told officials they have “probably heard more from the naysayers than the people that support what’s happening.”
“I feel like the people that have supported what you’re doing haven’t spoken up,” Jackson said in noting that all of the schools in the district are at or above capacity.
Board President Patrick Sullivan said in a phone interview on July 11 that in either a one-question or two-question referendum, it is likely the vote by the public will take place on Nov. 6 instead of on Oct. 2.