Schools Renovation Plan Rejected by Voters

Fort Lee voters resoundingly defeated a multi-million dollar proposal to upgrade and expand the borough's school system Tuesday, for the second time in three months.

The final tally was 2,034 votes opposed to the measure, and 1,357 in favor. The proposal passed in only two of Fort Lee's 19 voting precincts.

When the results were in Tuesday night Fort Lee superintendent Raymond Bandlow told Patch, "I would certainly have hoped that it would have gone the other way. The proposal was soundly defeated. We have to go back and regroup to consider where we go from here."

Voting was heavy all day Tuesday.

One poll worker at the Fort Lee Community Center, which is the polling place for two of Fort Lee's 19 districts, said the center had already seen 172 voters come through its doors as of 4 p.m. and that there was a long line at the door when polls opened two hours earlier. 

"People are making it a point to come out and vote, despite the cold, on this important issue," the election worker said, noting that turnout seemed to be up from September, when voters turned down a slightly more expensive version of the plan.

School Board officials originally presented a $99 million plan in September, but voters turned that down by a margin of only 54 votes, 1,651 to 1,597. The new plan whacked $10 million off of that proposal, lowering the cost to $89 million.

School officials had emphasized that the state of New Jersey would provide $18 million toward the school renovation and expansion, but warned that state aid is disappearing and if the current plan is not approved, state aid is not likely to be available in the future.

The Board of Education would have issued bonds for the remaining $71 million. For an average homeowner, with a residence assessed at $468,000, taxes would have risen by $208, officials said. For the owner of a condominium assessed at $200,000, the tax hike would amount to $89, officials estimated.

_________________________________________________

Editor's note: Documents from the Board of Education detailing the proposed improvements and expansion as well as the estimated cost and funding source, are available on the district Web site.

_________________________________________________

School officials had argued that the school system is overcrowded, with 3,600 students attending schools designed to accommodate only 2,500. They also said that many of the schools have aging windows, heating and cooling systems that waste money and are in need of replacement.

Bandlow said Tuesday night that those problems "are not going to go away."

"We're over-crowed, extremely over-crowed," he said. "That's not going to change as a result of today's election. The kids aren't going to go away. We still have to provide for them. The dire condition of the infrastructure of our schools … hasn't changed either. Boilers still need to be replaced. Roofs still need to be replaced. Substantial heating system replacement has to occur. Those problems are still there, and they will only get worse."

The plan called for building a new elementary school, expanding the middle school, high school and School Number 2, and repairing roofs, replacing windows, and heating and air conditioning systems at all four elementary schools, the middle school and the high school.

Critics of the proposal argued that raising taxes during difficult economic times is unfair and said the board could scale down the proposal. In particular, they have questioned the need for a new 5^th and 6^th grade school.

The mood of voters Tuesday may have best been described by one woman who spoke up at the most recent school board meeting on Dec. 5, describing herself as "a homeowner."

"The economy is down in the dumps," the homeowner said. "There are many people that aren't working, and even if it's a hundred dollars, that's a hundred dollars they don't have. I understand the need for the students, [but] there's so much a homeowner can do. Sometimes you have to say, 'well how much can we take from people?'" 

Bandlow said it's far too early to say where things go from here for the school district.

"I think we're going to have to take some time to make that decision in a very thoughtful way," he said.