At a half-billion, 3 schools raise old questions

A few projects stood out last week as state officials detailed plans to dole out $2.9 billion for school construction in the state's poorest districts, the first round of spending since a similar initiative collapsed three years ago.

In Millville, administrators who once hoped for $43 million to renovate their overcrowded high school instead landed $164 million for a whole new building, thanks to lobbying by a key legislator.

Phillipsburg and Trenton were winners, too. Each will receive at least $150 million more from the Schools Development Authority for new high schools -- more than three times the average cost nationwide. That's on top of $28 million already spent on their sites.

Together, building the three schools will cost taxpayers nearly a half-billion dollars.

They were the biggest ticket items among 53 projects approved last week as the state restarted its bungled attempt to repair or replace hundreds of dilapidated schools. With them came fresh warning signs and memories of the exorbitant costs and political manipulation that doomed the Schools Construction Corp.

Millville won the money despite lacking a budget for the project or even a location for its new school. Phillipsburg officials have detailed plans for their school, but the bottom line continues to grow, almost tripling since first proposed in 2004.

"Why is it that similar states can build the same schools for $30 million?" asked Assemblyman Gary Chiusano (R-Sussex). "Given the rampant waste and abuse in the first school construction program, taxpayers have every right to take a close look at these numbers and raise questions."

The infusion of money followed a two-year legislative battle after the downfall of the Schools Construction Corp. Authority officials say they have learned from the mistakes of that scandal-plagued agency, which plowed through $8 billion in tax money and left behind 378 unfinished projects before folding.

The SCC, the biggest capital construction undertaking in state history, left behind a blueprint of how not to handle a project of its magnitude. The agency favored politically connected firms, ignored cost-saving safeguards and paid contractors and designers premium fees.

Scott Weiner, chief executive officer of the new authority, said the latest project appropriations were estimates and could be cut as plans take shape. He said the authority is better prepared, managed and monitored than its predecessor.

"This is a different agency than it was," Weiner said.

Ordered by the state Supreme Court to fix the crumbling schools in 31 needy districts, the state built 42 schools, completed 39 major additions or renovations and finished 576 repair projects in districts since 2002.

The plan to rebuild Newark's Central High School was emblematic. Central started six years ago with an estimated budget of $40 million and ended up costing more than $109 million, or about $91,000 per student.

That's more than four times the median per-student cost for a new high school nationwide, according to the latest Education Construction Report by American School & University.

Hundreds of projects were still on the to-do list when the agency ran out of money. Together, those unfinished jobs would cost $17 billion, officials estimate.

Last month, the Legislature agreed to a more modest beginning -- $2.9 billion for 53 projects in the needy districts, with conditions attached. Lawmakers also approved $950 million for suburban districts.

The new high schools for Millville and Phillipsburg will rank as two of the most expensive projects the state has undertaken, ranking only behind a $187 million school already being built in New Brunswick.

But they joined the list from wildly different directions.

Phillipsburg had been in the running for a new school for years. It had already shelled out more than $12 million in state funds for architect fees and site preparation work when the money ran dry. That initial investment made it a likely candidate when the school financing program resumed.

This time, officials are using a more realistic assessment of the high school's cost. So the price tag swelled from $64 million in 2004 to $174 million.

By contrast, the money for the Millville school was almost a surprise.

Administrators had initially sought $43 million to renovate the current undersized school. But newly elected Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), who last year captured a seat long held by Republicans, said he helped the district win support for the larger project among the Democrats who control Trenton. He said he was distressed by the conditions of the school, including overcrowding.

Millville officials aren't sure how big, how well-equipped or even where their new school will be, said superintendent Shelly Schneider. But the money is expected to allow students in all four grades to attend a single school, instead of splitting them at two locations, as they do now.

The $164 million estimate is a projection by the schools authority based on the district's basic needs: a 351,000-square-foot building to house more than 2,200 high schoolers. The figure almost will certainly change as the details are worked out, Weiner said.

Van Drew agreed the state needs to keep an eye on costs.

"Let's take a look at it and make sure we are spending all the dollars efficiently," he said. "We're going to run out of money. We just can't keep doing it."

The Trenton Central High School project has been debated for years. Plans for a $123 million renovation were approved in 2004, then canceled when only one contractor submitted a bid -- and it was $23 million too high. The proposal approved by the authority last week calls for $160 million to be spent on a new school.

Officials from the Schools Development Authority say they are managing the projects more closely than ever and the costs could decrease as plans are refined. Legislators also mandated that they use cost-cutting strategies.

By April, the authority must prepare a report analyzing whether money could be saved by developing standardized cafeterias, media centers, gyms and other common features in future projects. The agency also must consider bulk purchases for items such as doors, windows and hardware.

"What's here is really the antithesis of the school construction program that began eight or 10 years ago, when there really was not attempt at capital planning," Barry Zubrow, chairman of the Schools Development Authority, said last week.

For many communities, however, the new frugality is coming too late.

Newark still features three barren blocks along Dewey Street where an entire neighborhood was dismantled to make way for a high school.

And Perth Amboy launched an international search for an architect and cleared 200 residents out of a public housing project about three years ago to make way for a new high school. Its request for $253 million wasn't approved.

Now the housing project is a collection of vacant, boarded-up buildings. And, with the school enrollment running nearly 25 percent over capacity, superintendent John Rodecker is preparing to install five trailer classrooms and is negotiating the rental of a nearby Catholic elementary school to accommodate students this fall.

Rodecker says he would have welcomed the chance to scale back the project back to fit into the state's budget.

"They definitely could have said 'Redesign the building; get another architect,'" said Rodecker, whose district received no new projects in the additional $2.9 billion round of funding approved last week. "We're not standing on appearances just to get the biggest building on the block."