Education Committee

The impression that the Robbinsville Township citizens have been given by our officials is that the state has unexpectedly pulled the rug out from under us by not giving our township what we should have received. This is not true, and here is why.

The extra 23 million dollars comes from the construction of the new high school. Here are the facts that the board wishes you did not know.

The original projected cost of the high school was 36 million dollars. In 2000, the legislature passed the comprehensive Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. The law had 5 performance objectives:

1. Healthy and Productive Environment

2. Cost Effective

3. Educationally Effective

4. Sustainable

5. Community Centered

Objective number 2 is particularly important because the state wanted “facilities that save money over time by being efficient to build, maintain and operate…” The state also developed facilities efficiency standards to make funding “equitable for all districts.” How much funding a district received depended upon if the district was an Abbott district (one with lower socio-economic families) or a non-Abbott district. Obviously, Robbinsville Township fits into the non-Abbott district category.

As a non-Abbott district, the funding for the high school would have been financed by the state at a district’s “state aid multiplied by 1.15, or a minimum of 40 percent of the allowable cost, whichever is greater.” So what does that mean? Well, here is a breakdown of the figures.

Projected cost of the high school………………………… 36 million

Possible state aid………………………………………… 16 million

Taxpayers share…………………………………………. 20 million

What happened? Again. let’s look at the law. “If the Commissioner does not approve additional space beyond that provided in the facilities efficiency standards, the district may either modify its plan or pay for the excess cost locally.” It is obvious that there was no modification of plans. The board opted to have square-footage that exceeded the facilities efficiency standards. Net result was we paid a stiff price locally. How stiff? Here are the figures.

Final cost of the high school…………………………..… 50 million

Final state aid……………………………………………. 7 million

Taxpayers share…………………………………………. 43 million

There has been criticism about bringing this issue up. Some say, the high school is built so why bring it up again. The reason for bringing it up again is that there is a proposal for building another school and will the board of education again ignore the state’s recommendations for following the facilities efficiency standards? Will the board of education once again spend more of our money than we have? (Remember, we are already deeply in debt; that’s why our taxes are so high).

We must learn from the last overwhelming spending decision, and make sure that history does not repeat itself.

If you have any questions or are interested in contacting the committee head, please email us someone will contact you shortly.