The school board needs state approval by the end of next week if it is to meet all the deadlines for an April 17 vote.
By: Jeff Milgram
It appears unlikely the Princeton Regional Board of Education will be able to hold its $78.2 million school renovation and expansion referendum on April 17, Superintendent Claire Sheff Kohn said Thursday.
And the board’s fallback date, May 15, also might be in jeopardy, with the referendum possibly being delayed until October.
"It’s grim," Dr. Kohn said at Thursday’s meeting of the school board’s Facilities Committee.
She added, "We have yet to hear from the state."
The board must get state approval by the end of next week or it will be unable to vote on the exact wording of the referendum questions, print up the ballots and send out absentee ballots in time for the April 17 vote.
"It’s looking less likely that we’ll have them (state approvals) for the April 17 vote," she said.
Frank Strasburger, chairman of the Facilities Committee, said the result would not have been different if the board had sent in its project application earlier.
"We followed the rules," the Rev. Strasburger said. "We met deadlines. … We are at the mercy of the state."
The board received some help Thursday from Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough), who wrote a letter to state Education Commissioner Vito Gagliardi, asking the Department of Education to review the Princeton Regional’s project "in a timely fashion."
"This would not only allow the district to move forward with its plans but inform district voters the extent of the state’s share," Assemblyman Gusciora wrote. "As you can appreciate, any such delay will only result in increased costs of the project."
In a separate statement, Assemblyman Gusciora said:
"So far, the state has avoided any line of communication with the people of Princeton. Time is of the essence when dealing with school construction and renovation projects. The Department of Education needs to realize how rapidly the deadline is approaching and start crunching some numbers."
Dr. Kohn said the state Department of Education has been giving priority to applications from Abbott districts, the 30 poorest school systems in the state.
Dr. Kohn said the only non-Abbott districts that have been approved were those that received waivers because their referendums were scheduled before the Education Facilities Construction and Financing Act was signed July 18. She also said the state has not yet approved projects that were scheduled to go to a vote in March.
In addition, she said, the software the state has been using to perform these reviews has not been working properly and the state has not shifted to a review of the paper applications.
Department of Education spokesman Rich Vespucci said Thursday afternoon that the department is going through "an unprecedented process. We are trying to accommodate them … but we can’t guarantee that they can hold the referendum when they want to hold the referendum."
He explained that the department is not working exclusively to review Abbott district projects but that the Abbott districts were on a "fast track" because they were required to file their five-year facilities plans a year before the school construction aid legislation became law.
He also confirmed that there have been some software "glitches," but said they have been resolved.
The board has reserved May 15 and May 22 for its referendum if it cannot make the April 17 date. State law prohibits school boards from holding an election less than 20 days before or after another election. The May 22 date could be used only if the state’s primary election, scheduled for June 5, is delayed because of redistricting negotiations, Dr. Kohn said.
Another possible date for the referendum is June 26, after the schools close for the summer, Dr. Kohn said. The next date for the referendum would be in October, she said. Both dates also are reserved.
"There’s just so many variables," Dr. Kohn said.
Complicating the issue is a bill passed by the state Assembly on March 8 and by the Senate in June. That bill, which is awaiting the signature of acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco, would restrict referendums to five specific days in the year. If the bill is signed, referendums could be held only on the fourth Tuesday in January, the second Tuesday in March, the day of the annual school board elections in April, the last Tuesday in September and the second Tuesday in December, said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.
The bill, however, would not take effect for 120 days after enactment, he said.
In a related development, the school board, in a mailing sent March 1 to more than 15,000 residents of Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, has for the first time given an official estimate of the tax impact should voters approve the $78.2 million referendum and a second question for a $3 million indoor swimming pool.
The state has said it would contribute up to 40 percent of core-curriculum costs. The Princeton school board expects to receive state aid between 20 and 25 percent of the $78.2 million.
A 20-percent state contribution would lower the cost $15.64 million, to $61.56 million, the mailing said.
The tax impact on a Princeton Township home assessed at the township average of $380,000 would be an average increase of $558 per year over a 20-year bond period. In Princeton Borough, the tax bill of the average home, assessed at $350,000, would go up by about $514 a year.
The swimming pool would add about $24 a year for the average home in the borough or township, the mailing said.
"The bond referendum is the result of almost three years of research, analysis and planning … Its aim is to meet critical, and in some cases long neglected, needs and to assure that our facilities enhance, not hold back, our academic programs," the mailing reads. "We believe the proposal completes the most comprehensive planning and vision for our public schools of the past 30 years."
In another matter, a group of residents who live near Princeton High School has been formed to encourage the school board to consider changes in the site plan for PHS.
"The proposed site plan for expansion of Princeton High School paves over non-replaceable green open space and athletic fields currently used for physical education and girls’ field hockey, lacrosse and soccer," the Green Fields Group says on its Web site, www.greenfields.org.
"Asphalt and parked vehicles will surround the high school, students will lose already scarce on-site playing fields and the gracious northern high school green will be diminished and degraded," the group says.
Green Fields member Jean Schwarzbauer asked for a meeting with school board members.
Board members, once again, told residents that the site plan is conceptual at this point and if and when the referendum is approved, they would have more detailed site plans drawn up. In addition to the placement of buildings, parking, fields and tennis courts, the final site plans would include such things as drainage.
The board indicated it would meet with group at a later date.
The Facilities Committee on Thursday estimated a "high figure, a safe figure" of $3.25 million for the indoor pool at the John Witherspoon School, the Rev. Strasburger said. The board hopes to build an eight-lane pool that could be used for swimming competitions, seating for 200 to 300 spectators and a separate, shallow pool of 500 to 600 square feet to be used to teach swimming.
The Facilities Committee also said the pool would cost about $138,400 a year to operate. That amount includes $75,000 to pay for a full-time pool manager and the cost could drop considerably if the manager’s position were combined with another job.