Post by admin on Dec 14, 2008 10:23:39 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20081214/NEWS01/812140355/1004/NEWS01
FREEHOLD — After voters roundly rejected two building referendums, district officials have gotten the message: Residents don't want to shell out any more tax dollars than they already have to.
With that in mind, officials have crafted a plan they hope will address the district's overcrowding while not costing residents anything extra in local taxes.
"We're trying to do it without taxpayer money," said school board member Adam Reich, who is a member of a facilities committee that has created a plan for several new classrooms at both Park Avenue Elementary School and the Freehold Learning Center.
Student enrollment jumped almost 11 percent, from 1,174 to 1,301, in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 school years according to Schools Superintendent Elizabeth O'Connell. The population has stabilized since then, but since residents vetoed officials' expansion plans in 2005 and 2006, little has been done to resolve overcrowding in the district, O'Connell said.
The new plan — drafted by district administration and school board members — aims to ease these woes with a $4 million expansion that would add 13 classrooms.
At the Park Avenue school complex, the plan calls for four new first-grade classrooms and six small-group instruction rooms, which are used for students who need more instruction, O'Connell said. Two bathrooms also would be added.
Classes such as occupational and speech therapy currently are held in the Park Avenue library, sometimes at the same time as library classes. Bilingual and English as a Second Language classes are held on the cafetorium stage, O'Connell said.
"It (the expansion) will allow us to operate our programs the way they should be operating," O'Connell said.
At Freehold Learning Center, committee members have proposed adding an office, along with three prekindergarten classrooms to accommodate the influx of students the district expects in coming years.
Freehold is one of 87 districts in the state that are required to provide universal preschool to the borough's 3- and 4-year-olds by 2013.
Sixty students were accepted into the program this year. Approximately 240 students could be enrolled by the end of the five-year period, O'Connell said.
The three new rooms are the only ones anticipated to handle the increase. The district is exploring agreements with private entities — such as the First Presbyterian Church, where preschool classes are already held — to house the extra students, O'Connell said.
So officials have a plan for their facility needs. Now comes the tricky part: How to pay for it?
Officials have estimated the cost of the project at $4 million, a little more than half of what was asked of taxpayers in referendums held in 2005 and 2006. And they have identified a few possible revenue sources that, if all goes as planned, will cover the entire expense.
One large source would be a state Department of Education grant for 40 percent of the cost, or approximately $1.6 million. Officials have begun the application process for that grant, O'Connell said.
Another $400,000 could come from the sale of 54 Hudson St., which formerly housed the Freehold Police Department and before that served as a local school, O'Connell said. The borough had promised the school district part of the sale's proceeds earlier this year.
Borough Councilman Jaye Sims said the sale has been completed, but he did not have the details last week.
The remaining $2 million could come from state aid provided to the district and could be financed over several years. The state has not told the district yet how much funding it can expect for the 2009-10 school year, O'Connell said.
With so much of the funding still uncertain, O'Connell said the current plan is just that — a plan for what the district hopes to accomplish.
"We're in a holding pattern now," she said.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
FREEHOLD — After voters roundly rejected two building referendums, district officials have gotten the message: Residents don't want to shell out any more tax dollars than they already have to.
With that in mind, officials have crafted a plan they hope will address the district's overcrowding while not costing residents anything extra in local taxes.
"We're trying to do it without taxpayer money," said school board member Adam Reich, who is a member of a facilities committee that has created a plan for several new classrooms at both Park Avenue Elementary School and the Freehold Learning Center.
Student enrollment jumped almost 11 percent, from 1,174 to 1,301, in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 school years according to Schools Superintendent Elizabeth O'Connell. The population has stabilized since then, but since residents vetoed officials' expansion plans in 2005 and 2006, little has been done to resolve overcrowding in the district, O'Connell said.
The new plan — drafted by district administration and school board members — aims to ease these woes with a $4 million expansion that would add 13 classrooms.
At the Park Avenue school complex, the plan calls for four new first-grade classrooms and six small-group instruction rooms, which are used for students who need more instruction, O'Connell said. Two bathrooms also would be added.
Classes such as occupational and speech therapy currently are held in the Park Avenue library, sometimes at the same time as library classes. Bilingual and English as a Second Language classes are held on the cafetorium stage, O'Connell said.
"It (the expansion) will allow us to operate our programs the way they should be operating," O'Connell said.
At Freehold Learning Center, committee members have proposed adding an office, along with three prekindergarten classrooms to accommodate the influx of students the district expects in coming years.
Freehold is one of 87 districts in the state that are required to provide universal preschool to the borough's 3- and 4-year-olds by 2013.
Sixty students were accepted into the program this year. Approximately 240 students could be enrolled by the end of the five-year period, O'Connell said.
The three new rooms are the only ones anticipated to handle the increase. The district is exploring agreements with private entities — such as the First Presbyterian Church, where preschool classes are already held — to house the extra students, O'Connell said.
So officials have a plan for their facility needs. Now comes the tricky part: How to pay for it?
Officials have estimated the cost of the project at $4 million, a little more than half of what was asked of taxpayers in referendums held in 2005 and 2006. And they have identified a few possible revenue sources that, if all goes as planned, will cover the entire expense.
One large source would be a state Department of Education grant for 40 percent of the cost, or approximately $1.6 million. Officials have begun the application process for that grant, O'Connell said.
Another $400,000 could come from the sale of 54 Hudson St., which formerly housed the Freehold Police Department and before that served as a local school, O'Connell said. The borough had promised the school district part of the sale's proceeds earlier this year.
Borough Councilman Jaye Sims said the sale has been completed, but he did not have the details last week.
The remaining $2 million could come from state aid provided to the district and could be financed over several years. The state has not told the district yet how much funding it can expect for the 2009-10 school year, O'Connell said.
With so much of the funding still uncertain, O'Connell said the current plan is just that — a plan for what the district hopes to accomplish.
"We're in a holding pattern now," she said.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com