Tuesday's school referendum failures, including Washington Borough and Knowlton Township, buck 2009's statewide approval trend

Sunday, January 31, 2010
By STEPHEN J. NOVAK
The Express-Times

In phone calls to other Washington school officials Tuesday night, Superintendent Lance Rozsa used no uncertain terms in describing the results of a referendum vote that day.

"We were murdered," he said.

Knowlton Township School District Superintendent Shannon Mooney kept quiet as she revealed voting results with her colleagues late that night in the Warren County Courthouse in Belvidere.

The districts saw their school repair questions -- totaling $14 million -- fail in the first referendum of 2010, but they were not alone. New Jersey voters approved only two of nine referendums statewide.

That amounted to $10.35 million in approved projects out of a potential $294 million, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. And that was coming off one of the most successful referendum years in more than a decade.

In 2009, voters approved school construction proposals in 48 of 66 communities for an approval rate of 72.7 percent, one of the highest recorded during the past 11 years, the association reported last month.

"Warren County's proposals were not extravagant at all," association spokesman Mike Yaple said. "It really tells you how much an effect the economy is having on many things."

A new governor in Trenton promising to cut spending may also have an effect on voters, said Knowlton's Mooney.

Last week's results were "the opposite of what has been happening," she said. "There is definitely some concern over what the new administration is going to bring."

School repairs and alternative energy projects such as solar panel installation seemed to fare well last year.

The trend did not carry over to Knowlton, which sought to make $7.1 million worth of upgrades to its elementary school and eliminate the need for temporary classroom trailers in use for more than 20 years.

The district will have to find some way to cover repairs, but Mooney said no action is likely until after budget season concludes in April.

It was the second time Washington school officials posed the $6.9 million school repair question. Even though the state guaranteed to cover nearly half the cost, the referendum failed in September, 242-194, and again last week, 398-222.

The work still needs to be done, Rozsa said, but now it will likely happen piecemeal. He said he will focus first on the least expensive and most visible issues, though those projects likely won't be introduced until the 2011-12 budget.

"I understand exactly how the taxpayers feel. I wish we didn't have to go out when we did," Rozsa said, adding that it was his obligation to the district to attempt a vote while state funds were available.

"Vote No" signs sprouted up around the borough well before the election. On voting day, more than one voter said they felt taxes were already too high as they left the polling center in borough hall.

Even a poll worker dropping off a voting machine at the courthouse Tuesday night -- presumably unaware she was talking to the superintendent -- said emphatically, "I hope it goes down."

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TWO QUESTIONS, TWO FAILURES
Sunday, January 31, 2010

Washington Borough and Knowlton Township each proposed school repair referendums last week.

Washington asked for $6.9 million to make system and structural repairs in its two schools -- with almost half the cost covered by state grant. It failed 398-222.

Knowlton wanted a $7.1 million upgrade to the elementary school to eliminate classroom trailers in use for more than 20 years. It also failed, 208-147.