The Lakewood Board of Education this evening approved a resolution to seek voter approval on a referendum aimed at making required roof and HVAC replacements to the District’s schools.
The Board has chosen to put to a public vote on March 11, whether to move forward with these projects to take advantage of the Department of Education’s recent approval of the Board’s application for aid to be applied towards the project cost. This rare opportunity will result in the State assuming 40% of the total cost of the project. The Board of Education concluded that it was preferable to put this question to the voters now rather than to include these projects in its general budget where the 40% State aid amount would not be provided to the District.
In particular, the referendum projects include significant replacements to the HVAC systems at five schools, many of which have outlived their useful lives and must now be replaced: Lakewood High School, Oak Street School, Clifton Avenue, Spruce Street School, Lakewood Middle School and the E.G. Clarke School. The Board is also proposing to replace the leaking and badly worn roofs at the Oak Street, Spruce Street, Clifton Avenue and E.G. Clarke Schools, which have also outlived their expected lifespans, and to refinance the Board’s outstanding lease purchase agreement in order to issue lower interest rate bond.
The Board, its professionals as well as the State and the County Offices of Education, have all inspected the HVAC systems and roofs at issue and have determined that the deteriorated condition of these facilities must be addressed in the immediate future in order to ensure the health and safety of the District’s students and staff. The failure to do so puts in jeopardy not only the District’s infrastructure, but the education of the District students. Moreover, State law requires that the District provide its students with adequate and safe facilities.
The total proposed cost of the HVAC and roofing replacement is $29,497,241 with an eligible cost of $29,371,401. This means that 40% of $29,371,401 or $11,748,560 will be paid for by the State of New Jersey as debt service aid. This 40% State aid is only available to the school district if the referendum is approved.
In addition, to these school improvements, the public will be asked to refinance the District’s lease-purchase obligations in the amount of $5,200,000 through the issuance of bonds in order to achieve interest rate savings for the District and its taxpayers. The original lease purchase was for the Middle School roof, roof-vents and windows, HVAC repairs at the High School and for the renovation of the Board offices at the High School.
Lastly, the Board voted to ask the public to raise up to $6 million dollars through a special tax in order to cover the District’s expected 2013-14 budget shortfall. According to the District’s auditors, at this point the District’s projected expenditures will exceed the budget by approximately $5.2 million. Further details about this shortfall will be provided by the District’s auditor at the Board meeting on February 20. [TLS]
Hahahahaha putting anything up to a vote in this town that involves money towards public school. The state could be picking up 90 percent of the tab and it would still be voted down. I hope I’m proven wrong
Thanks to the Scoop and the BOE for making available to the public an unprecedented amount of information. Which proves that the current BOE is being run in a very professional and “nothing to hide” fashion.
I know first hand from people that Mr. Zlatkin is very approachable for assistance and insight way beyond the call of duty. If only it had been run this way for the last twenty years, many of the problems wouldn’t exist.
I hope people will support them in putting the district back in order.
while i understand the need for the improvements to the hvac and the roof and can see voting yes for that-asking voters to approve a additional 6 million dollar tax on themselves besides for the improvements I can’t see that happening
I’m ok with voting to approve the ‘repairs’ – but only on condition the BOE makes available to exact ‘certified’ details of the plan. All to often they just write a few vague lines for the voting booth and we voters are later very surprised to find out what we really voted on..
I’m ok with voting to approve the ‘repairs’ – but only on condition that the BOE makes publicly available (and certified by the superintendent / business administrator) details of the repairs plan.
All too often they get away with writing a few vague lines for the voting booth and we voters are later very surprised to find out what we REALLY voted on..
This project was actually started with the insight of the BA and the previous board.
Personally, I hope it passes but in my heart the people of Lakewood will never help the public schools.
They have enough money now why raise taxes again? The tax payers are chocking being driven out of their homes.
Maybe when the BOE can bring the cost down to $6000 per student like in non public schools everyone would be more receptive. In the end of the day The public school children are getting a $20000 education and the non public students a $6000 education (that’s right, the non public scholl parents are not paying $20000 per student)yet the public schools are showing dismal results. It is a travesty to the voters the taxpayers, and most of all the public school children who are being robbed of the education they deserve. The answer is not more money. You can spend he amound it costs to go to Harvard law school on each public school student and you won’t achieve better results. You need to revamp the whole system. Then come back to the taxpayer for well deserved funding.
To anon,
1. The money they are looking to raise is mostly for repairs to schools that are falling apart, because over the years the boa has failed to fund regular maintenance. I worm at a school where every time it rains it leaks into my classroom. There is mold forming on the carpets. So one way or another it is eventually going to get fixed. Either with this referendum in which the state picks up 40 percent of the tab or when the state comes in and says the schools do not pass the health code and must be fixed.
2. Find me a public school in the state of nj that spends 6000 per student. Could we look harder into how money is being spent, absolutely. Can we try to make sure that money is being used in the most efficient way, absolutely. Understand that Lakewood teachers are amongst the lowest paid teachers in the area. If you were somehow able to pay them less, the better teachers would leave for other districts. Think about it if let’s say you work for a company that paid far less then other companies in the same industry, you are going to try to get a job at a different company that will pay you more.
3. The students that attend Lakewood Public schools face many challenges that students from surrounding districts do not. Students often come from single parent families, or immigrant families who do not speak much or any English. Many families are poor, families moving from house to house, school to school. There is not the stability that say kids who live in colts neck, or even jackson would have. parents are so overwhelmed and undereducated themselves that they do not make sure that their kids are doing their homework or helping them when they struggle.
This doesn’t mean as teachers we can just throw our hands up and use it as an excuse, but when you make a blanket statement that the schools re failing so why give them money, you are making an uninformed uneducated remark
One last thing. From what I have read many of the private schools in Lakewood perform quite poorly on the standardized tests.
Did I read correctly ? 29 million ?
You can build a few brand new buildings for that money .
Can someone familiar with construction fill us in here ?
The public schools under State law must use contractors that pay union wages , So while you and I can build a building using a roofer that uses 10 dollar per hour labor , they can not do that . The union and prevailing wage laws also tell them how many helpers and workers they need so bottom line it costs about 3 to 4 times as much as we can build it for . Blame the unions ,not the Board of Ed .
Pay the cops LESS pay the teachers MORE. Good education will prevent crime.
There is no excuse for rain leaking into a classroom. However, please understand that the media portrayal of non public students as privileged wealthy folks is misleading and inaccurate. Many parents are spending $6000 per child that they don’t have, due to their convictions, or as in my case due to exasperation with the state of the public school system. The non public schools are spending $14000 less per student yet they are producing students who are actually performing quite well on their tests, and going on to college or successful careers. Maybe it is time to make some real changes in the public schools. How about considering a single gender track for the girls so that they are not distracted in class or intimidated from participating in class discussions by the boys, as numerous studies have suggested. How about a longer school day and real discipline, meaning real consequences for those that are disrupting others’ learning in any way. These are just a handful from among many common sense suggestions that can stop this abysmal situation when the taxpayer is throwing money down the drain and our precious children are being robbed of their potential and futures. When the average taxpayer sees that $20000 per student is actually producing results they will be much more motivated to sacrifice their hard earned tax dollars for real results. In the meantime, maybe the situation can be deemed some sort of emergency so that the construction unions can be bypassed and repairs made for a normal common sense price that you or I would pay for such repairs, not hyper inflated union prices and labor protocol. That would be a reasonable and fair stopgap measure for now.
This is really painful . Especially when it comes to tax paying dollars
we should try to save money .
Our families are really being squeezed from all sides. Who can afford to pay these artificially inflated prices.
Can anyone out there suggest an alternative ?
Can the buildings be privatized to a non profit entity that is not subject to these state rules ? Can the whole district be privatized and let the township pay a price per pupil ?
The public schools are not spending 20,000 pet pupil either . Obvioudly they are spending a lot more than private but you need to subtract all budget items not related to the public schools directly and then see what the true cost is.t.v.
No one would vote down maintenance money if there was zero based budgeting. This means starting each year from $0.00. Instead, approved funds this year are automatically assumed available for that new item AND then next year forever. New needs need require further additions, to budget etc. This is ridiculous. If money is needed,, start from zero every year! You’ll easily find the money.