Good
for town and gown
The Star-Ledger Editorial
Monday, October 04, 2004
Six years ago the state Supreme Court ordered New Jersey
to rebuild schools in 31 needy, mainly urban districts where
buildings were old, overcrowded and in dangerous disrepair.
The state was to pay 100 percent of the cost.
The job is not finished, but the money is about to run
out. Two funds -- $6 billion to cover the court order and
$2.6 billion the Legislature added to partially fund
construction in other school districts -- will be exhausted
by early 2006.
Supporters and detractors on both sides of the school
construction program are lining up to take their shots. Gov.
James McGreevey says the special needs districts will have
to ante up some money. In fact, some communities are already
helping to provide land for schools. However, a plan to
mandate cost-sharing might set up a confrontation with the
court, which had ordered the state to foot the entire bill.
Some legislators want to challenge the court's authority to
increase school funding. In Newark, some are arguing that a
city about to spend $210 million on a downtown arena would
be wiser to spend some money on its children.
How much will it cost to finish the school construction
job? The Schools Construction Corporation, which oversees
the building program, does not know. There are 2,500
projects under way, 25 new or completely renovated urban
schools, 30 more opening this year, and 1,127 projects
funded in the suburbs. But applications are still coming
into both funds. The SCC has no idea how much it still has
to do or the final price tag.
Under McGreevey's administration, the SCC spent more
than $650 million on health and safety repairs in city
schools. But there was never any attempt to set priorities
for building new schools or determine how many would
ultimately be built.
The districts, the Department of Education -- which
handles the initial approvals of the special needs districts
-- and the SCC must figure out what remains to be done and
how much it will cost and report to the Legislature
immediately.
This building program has served the state well, beyond
the interest of the court order. The SCC has spent or
obligated $3.7 billion in the special districts, $1.9
billion in the rest of the state plus $100 million on county
vocational schools.
That adds up to direct property tax relief and jobs, for
teachers and other school workers as well as construction
crews. In communities throughout the state, children are
sitting in new classrooms they might not have if local
taxpayers had been asked to foot the bill alone.
There is more to be done, and it behooves the state --
and the districts -- to figure out a way to make it
possible.
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