On the surface, it would appear last week’s approval of a historic school bill proposed by New Jersey legislators would be a windfall for all school districts in need of help, especially for those in dire need of either new building construction or building restoration. The bill, approved overwhelmingly last week by both the state assembly and the state senate, will sink more than $6 billion into 30 designated special needs school districts in order to make improvements to existing facilities. It also calls for another $2.6 billion to be spent in those districts not receiving special need designation. The other money is based on the wealth of the general population of the district. While some Hudson County “special needs” municipalities, like Jersey City, West New York, Hoboken and Union City, will receive healthy grants provided by the bill, others will be left out in the cold. Such is the case in North Bergen, a township with rapidly growing enrollment in the schools – with some schools bearing twice the enrollment for which they were designed and using every ounce of available space, like old lunch rooms and art rooms. Because North Bergen has not received the “special needs” designation, the Board of Education loses out on the $6 billion windfall and will have to fight with the remaining 580 school districts in the state for the other $2.6 billion. So while the Jersey City Board of Education stands to receive a whopping $887 million to make school improvements, Union City stands to get $258 million, West New York $78 million and Hoboken $55 million, North Bergen stands to receive very little. “I knew that when we signed the bill,” said North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, who also serves as the New Jersey state senator for the 32nd District and an assistant superintendent of schools for the Board of Education. “I knew right away that it wasn’t anything to get excited about. If you’re a Level A Special Needs district in the eyes of the state, then you got nearly 100 percent funding for improvements. We’re a Level B district, so we receive 40 percent funding. Now, we’re going to get 42 percent. So it’s basically only a little more than what we were going to receive by law.” “We applied for more than the 42 percent, but we’re not special needs, so we’re not getting it,” Sacco said. “It’s more than what we received in the past, but not enough to do anything substantially. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not going to get us a new school. It’s not enough to make me jump up and applaud.” And that’s the general consensus among the powers-that-be in the township. A new high school is a must. Plans to build a new $60 million high school within the confines of North Hudson Braddock Park received severe public criticism and were shot down before ever gaining much steam with taxpayers. No new plans for a new high school location have been introduced to the Board of Education for months. “We need a new high school,” Sacco said. “We have a high school that was built to hold 1,800 students that now has 2,500. And the numbers keep growing. We’re not a wealthy community. We can’t just go out and build a new school. We need help. And everyone knows that we’ve reached the desperate stage now.” Because of the general locale, Sacco believes that North Bergen should have been classified as a special needs district when the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled in 1998 (Abbott vs. Burke) that the poorer areas deserved more state funding. “We should be special needs,” Sacco said. “It makes no sense that we’re not. The other towns that receive special needs funds have schools that are not as overpopulated as ours. I represent other towns, like Kearny and Guttenberg, that don’t receive it as well and should. But in North Bergen’s case, it’s critical.” Sacco said that the Board of Education will continue to pursue any available funding, as well as examine other options and possible locations in order to build a new high school in the future. “I guess we have to be happy that we’re not getting less funding,” Sacco said. “It’s something that I felt we deserved and we didn’t get. At this point, it’s hard to argue with what has happened.”
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