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"We come together for a common need in terms of economic growth, what's good for kids and education and what's good for local taxpayers," added Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which advocates for mostly suburban districts.
Corzine opts to wait for School Construction Corp. reforms
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/8/06
BY GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
TRENTON — A new coalition of school construction advocates began its push Tuesday for Gov. Corzine and state lawmakers to promptly resume the state's embattled school building program.
The effort has been halted for a year after the state School Construction Corp. was cited for waste, inefficiency and possible criminal activity while spending or committing all of its $8.6 billion budget since its 2002 inception.
Corzine, who has said he will not resume school building until the agency is reformed, awaits a report next week from a group tasked with reviewing the program and recommending changes in order to proceed.
The new coalition, called Building Our Children's Future, would not give lawmakers a deadline to act.
"There's a need for prompt action," said David Sciarra, a co-chairman of the coalition and director of the Education Law Center, which represents children in the 31 districts covered by the Abbott vs. Burke funding-equity case. "We're not here to set a time line or time frame, but the action has got to be prompt."
The coalition stressed the educational and economic need for school construction, saying children need appropriate schools to learn, construction stimulates the economy and the state-funded program has provided relief to local property taxpayers.
It's also required by the state Supreme Court, at least in Abbott districts.
"One of the quickest ways for the governor to raise new revenue for the state is to jump-start this program and keep it going because it will have a direct, fast and immediate impact in a positive way on the state's overall economic situation," said Philip Beachem, a coalition co-chairman and president of the Alliance for Action, a nonprofit group focused on the state's economy and infrastructure.
"We come together for a common need in terms of economic growth, what's good for kids and education and what's good for local taxpayers," added Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which advocates for mostly suburban districts.
A bill that would provide $2 billion for construction in Abbott districts and $1 billion for other districts has not yet moved through any committee.
That funding is a short-term fix as officials estimate it would cost $12 billion to complete Abbott construction in today's dollars. That doesn't factor that voters in 35 non-Abbott districts have approved projects eligible for $163.9 million in state grants since September. Sciarra said those districts that passed referendums and Abbott projects closest to construction should get top priority when construction resumes.
A couple of mothers from Newark said it's not fair that children still have old, overcrowded schools that are falling apart.
"It's a robbery from the kids because kids don't control the money, the state does," said Shanda Muhammad of Newark.
Gregory J. Volpe: gvolpe@gannett.com