BOE gears up for second bond referendum
New proposal would range between $44 million to $54 million

EDISON - Board of Education members have decided to move ahead with plans for a bond referendum next year for school renovations.

"The board gave us permission to move forward to do all that we need to do to have a bond referendum ready to be voted on by the public in either April or September of next year," said Business Administrator Daniel Michaud after the meeting. "We started the ball rolling."

Board members voted unanimously in favor of another referendum at the Nov. 2 board meeting.

The referendum will ask voters to approve school construction for the township's elementary, middle and high schools. The amount would range anywhere from $44 million to $54 million, said BOE President William Van Pelt.

Voters here defeated a $51 million bond referendum in September 2005. The money would have paid for various improvements to 10 elementary and two middle schools in the district.

They also turned down the 2006 budget, the first budget in eight years to be defeated.

The district would be eligible for some state aid in the form of debt service with the new referendum, with the exact amount to be determined later on in the process.

"If a project cost $50 million, the state used to give you a percentage up front, and the remainder you would put up for a bond," Van Pelt said after the meeting. "But the old SCC (School Construction Corporation) programs are no longer in existence, as that money is now going to the Abbott districts. So what they would do is provide debt service."

The school district would bond the entire amount that it needs with debt service. The state would then pay a portion of the district's annual payments, Van Pelt said.

"It winds up costing you a little more because you have to bond the entire amount up front," he said.

However, residents would likely not see their taxes rise very much even if the referendum were to be approved, since much of the money for the bonding would come from a capital outlay line item already in the budget, Van Pelt said.

Most of the elementary schools need new core facilities, such as classrooms, cafeterias and gymnasiums, Michaud said.

"For the middle schools, Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson need new classroom additions, and John Adams needs additions to their gymnasium and classrooms. We are currently already putting in five new classrooms at Herbert Hoover."

Board members have also been considering a plan to build separate learning centers to which students from the township's two high schools could be bussed to relieve the overcrowded schools.

"There is some discussion from the board that no one wants to give the impression that we are favoring one school over another," Michaud said. "We are doing all of them at the same time. There was also some discussion regarding the athletic fields, but we are strictly going with additions to the schools for now."

The board would prefer to hold the referendum in April to coincide with the annual school budget and Board of Education election. If that is not feasible, a special election in September would be held, he said.

"Ideally, we would like to do it in April because the election itself costs $50,000," Michaud said. "Big districts have a lot of polling places and voting districts, and that is the cost just to run an election. But holding a referendum in April also means to prepare for it."

The board is preparing for a public information campaign to educate the public about the need for bonding.

"We now need to go out and give information to the public to make sure they realize the benefits they are getting for the bond referendum if it is approved," Michaud said. "We need to make sure people understand what they are voting for and what the money goes for."