Blairstown
to vote on school funding
Referendum will ask voters to pay
for school expansion and a new building.
Saturday, September 24, 2005 • By KAT MAIN •
The Express-Times
BLAIRSTOWN TWP. -- Residents will decide
Tuesday whether to allow the school district to go forward
with an $18.8 million project, including improvements to the
existing elementary school and building an early childhood
primary school.
The referendum's one and only question
will ask voters to pay 84.37 percent of the project's cost:
$15,893,760.
District Superintendent W. Michael Feeney
said the project is necessary because of the fast growing
student population, which has already overflowed into four
modular units on the campus.
"I think if we can get the project done,
the amount of classroom space (available in the new school)
will provide for any growth experienced in Hardwick or
Blairstown in the next two to three decades," Fenney
said.
According to the referendum, the
remaining 15.63 percent of the costs would be paid through a
state grant made available only if residents approve the
project.
The state grant, totaling $2,944,085,
would come to the district in one of two ways: in a lump sum
paid after specific construction benchmarks are met, or a
percentage of the grant will be paid yearly to help with the
district's debt service.
If the grant money comes in a lump sum,
the school board would issue bonds for $15,893,760. In the
second scenario, the district would issue bonds for the
project's total cost. Either bond would be paid back over 30
years with an expected interest rate of 5 percent, Feeney
said.
According to a publication circulated by
the district, if the measure passes residents should expect
to pay $195 more a year on a home assessed at
$100,000.
Committeeman Dick Mach called the
possible tax increase significant.
"I think it's up to the individuals,
whether they want a new preschool through second-grade
facility," he said.
But folks in the sending district of
Hardwick Township won't get a say. If the referendum passes,
residents would be expected to pay an as-of-yet undetermined
amount that would be added to their tuition bills for the
2006-07 school year. The amount would be used to pay a
percentage of the bond's interest, Feeney said.
Feeney said the current elementary school
accommodates 750 children in first through sixth grades from
both Hardwick and Blairstown townships.
Feeney said 62 new students are enrolled
in the school this year. Those students will increase
homeroom sizes to about 25 kids in a class. The early
childhood primary school plan calls for a 54,000-square-foot
facility housing students in preschool, grades kindergarten
through second and special-needs children. It would
accommodate a maximum of 350 children with 18 classrooms. It
would also include offices, a gymnasium, cafeteria,
library/media center, community room and six small-group
instruction rooms.
A design phase could begin as soon as the
plan is approved, Feeney said. The phase would take a year,
with construction beginning in September 2007. The district
would hire architects Design Resources Group in Raritan for
the project.
According to the plan, students in grades
three to six would be housed in the existing elementary
school, which would undergo renovations to the heating,
ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems and the
replacement of windows and doors.
The plan also calls for the sale of the
75-year-old Vail School, currently housing the district's
preschool program for children with special needs, and the
sale of the district's four modular units.
The board does not anticipate hiring a
significant number of new teachers if the plan is approved,
Feeney said.
According to the superintendent, the
district was alerted to overcrowding issues in 2001 after
reviewing results of a feasibility study. In 2002, the
district purchased four modular units to accommodate the
growth.
The school can keep the trailers for five
years, Feeney said, and then it will be asked by the state
Department of Education to look into other
alternatives.
Reporter Kat Main can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at kmain@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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