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State education officials have until February to produce cost estimates for finishing a stalled multibillion-dollar school construction program, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Where will the bills end?
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
State education officials have until February to produce cost estimates for finishing a stalled multibillion-dollar school construction program, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Education officials said they would comply with the order, which covers 341 school construction projects in low-income communities.
Funds for those projects vanished as the state-run Schools Construction Corp. exhausted a $6 billion budget on fewer than one-third of its planned projects. State audits found ample opportunity for fraud, reporting that public funds were drained by poor financial controls, wasteful perks for top executives and workers who routinely approved bills that came in over budget.
The $6 billion intended for 473 schools was spent on just 132. That leaves 341 projects unfinished, and taxpayers stuck with the bill for completing them, the cost of which remains unclear. Payment options include bond issues, tax increases or public-spending cuts. The estimates are needed before the Legislature can authorize any additional spending.
Child advocates originally asked the court in November to require that education officials provide a complete cost estimate within 15 days. The court chose Feb. 15 instead.
The February deadline means that lawmakers and the governor's office won't face the thorny issue of paying for the remaining projects until after Governor-elect Jon Corzine is sworn in and the new Legislature is seated.
"We are appreciative for the adequate time that the court has given us," said Ronald Rice, an Education Department spokesman.
He did not respond to questions about how education officials would meet the deadline or ensure the cost estimates were accurate.
Incomplete cost estimates were among the reasons the schools construction agency ran through taxpayer dollars quickly.
For example, initial estimates did not include land costs or environmental cleanups at planned school sites.
The new timeline affects only projects in so-called Abbott districts, which receive special state funding and oversight under a 1998 state Supreme Court decision. As part of that ruling, which was intended to close the achievement gap between rich and poor school districts in New Jersey, the court mandated that school buildings be improved. In response, the Legislature committed in 2000 to spend $6 billion to replace and refurbish schoolhouses in those districts.
State officials also earmarked another $2.6 billion for school construction in more-affluent communities.
Those funds, too, are nearly spent.
"This is not just an Abbott problem, not just an urban problem," said David Sciarra of the Education Law Center, which requested the cost estimate deadline. "It's a statewide problem that the Legislature needs to move up the priority list and get at the top of the agenda right now."
Voters throughout New Jersey have approved spending hundreds of millions of dollars on local school construction projects, based on promises by the state to contribute part of the cost. The fate of those contributions remains uncertain.
"It's all very unstable," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools in Trenton. "The districts are in a definite state of limbo."
The deadline brought "minor relief" to Paterson Superintendent Michael Glascoe. Thirteen out of 20 planned projects in his district are frozen until more state funds become available.
"Relief, for me, comes when shovels are in the ground," he said.
"I just want the state and the powers that be to really do right by the children. Let's forget about political posturing. Someone's got to figure out how to make it work."
E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com
