Cities
told: Chip in on school costs
Governor says
N.J. cannot replenish construction fund when it runs dry in
2 years
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 • BY STEVE CHAMBERS
• Star-Ledger Staff
Urban districts will have
to share some of the cost of future school construction
after a $6 billion state fund runs out in less than two
years, Gov. James E. McGreevey said yesterday.
Speaking at a
ribbon-cutting for the $30 million, state-constructed
José Martí Middle School in Union City,
McGreevey said the program would fall far short of
completing its mission of revamping the worst city schools.
He said the state would need help to come up with billions
more dollars to complete the task, given difficult economic
times.
"The state simply will not
be able to bear the entirety of the cost," McGreevey said,
adding that cities might be asked to assume land-buying and
other costs driving prices skyward.
His comments, made in
response to a Star-Ledger story yesterday that reported the
shortfall, sent shock waves through the ranks of urban
school officials.
The state Supreme Court
ordered a massive overhaul of the 30 poorest districts in
1998, saying it was unsafe and unacceptable for children to
be educated in crumbling and obsolescent buildings. A
legislative compromise in 2000 authorized spending of $6
billion in the neediest districts and another $2.6 billion
to partly fund suburban projects.
The state pays the full
cost of urban projects and up to 40 percent in the
suburbs.
Part of the compromise
removed all oversight of land acquisition and construction
from cities, in the hope that corruption would be curtailed.
But the program had done virtually nothing for cities by the
time McGreevey took office, and he created the Schools
Construction Corp. to energize the effort.
Both the urban and
suburban portions of the $8.6 billion -- the largest public
works project in state history -- will run dry about the
same time in early 2006, according to Jack Spencer, CEO of
the Schools Construction Corp. Spencer confirmed yesterday
that the SCC would need "billions" more to finish the work
in the cities.
Supporters of state-funded
school construction like the New Jersey School Boards
Association and the Alliance for Action -- a consortium of
business, government and labor that supports infrastructure
spending -- already have begun calling for a replenishment
of the fund. But others reacted angrily
yesterday.
"The taxpayers need to
know how this money is being spent, and why it is
disappearing so quickly," Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio
(R-Morris) said yesterday. He called for legislative
hearings into the urban spending patterns.
Senate President Richard
Codey (D-Essex), who is scheduled to become governor when
McGreevey leaves office Nov. 15, said he also wants a full
accounting of SCC spending.
"I'm not living in a
fantasy world," he said. "There is a big budget shortfall.
Where does the money come from?"
Codey said he will seek a
meeting with SCC representatives and wants to examine
closely what taxpayers are getting for their
money.
Spencer continued to
defend the program yesterday, noting it was delivering
21st-century schools at reasonable prices. But officials
already were starting to whisper about possible
excesses.
The SCC has built or
completely renovated -- often with additions -- 25 urban
schools and assisted 1,127 projects in the suburbs. Spencer
said another 30 city schools will be finished next year,
with 30 or more the following year. Although the SCC will no
longer be able to sign construction contracts as of early
2006, he noted, building will continue for another two years
or more.
But in districts like
Newark -- where the full program is projected at $2 billion
or more -- there was tension yesterday at news of the
shortfall and McGreevey's suggestion about cities chipping
in.
"It flies in the face of
what the court decision was all about," said Corwin Frost,
facilities consultant to the district.
Two high schools are under
way in Newark, and Frost said the SCC is acquiring property
for another 15 schools. But he said the district will be
lucky if it can have contracts signed for half its 40 new
schools and 38 renovations by early 2006.
Other large urban
districts are similarly far behind smaller distressed
districts like Neptune, Long Branch and a few others that
will almost certainly finish their work. But Camden, for
example, has yet to begin a school.
David Sciarra, director of
the Education Law Center in Newark, which filed the lawsuit
that led to the construction initiative, said it was
premature to consider anything short of full funding by the
state in urban districts.
He agreed that the SCC
must make a full accounting of its spending. He also said an
analysis must determine what is needed to complete the
program. Finally, he added, the state Supreme Court would
have to approve any funding changes.
"I'm not going to
foreclose any possibility, but we are a long way from
reaching any conclusions," he said. "We don't know
enough."
McGreevey stressed that
the SCC has been hugely successful, accelerating spending
and getting schools built, while keeping the construction
industry working during tough economic times.
He agreed that an
accounting and analysis of the program, as well as a
discussion about how to keep it going, must happen over the
next year to continue its momentum.
"We traded this
nonfunctioning program for an aggressive fulfillment of the
Supreme Court's order and the Legislature's intent,"
McGreevey said. "It has been a tremendous success. The
charge now is to understand the limitations of the state's
fiscal position. There has to be a
cost-sharing."
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
|