The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) has announced that it is considering building two new state-of-the-art schools in Hoboken. The Hoboken Board of Education held a special meeting Thursday to discuss whether the board wants to go forward with potential revisions to its five-year facilities plan.
Under the current five-year plan, the EDA is committed to renovating all Hoboken schools using Abbott “special needs district” funds. Originally, renovations were to include air-conditioning, building additions and refurbishment of the interior of the facilities at an estimated price tag of $58 million. But now that work had begun, it has become evident that the renovations are going to cost much more than expected, especially at the Demarest School and Hoboken High School. According to Alan Forziati, an engineering consultant hired by the EDA, the cost to renovate the two schools has reached a point where it would be cheaper to build two new schools than to renovate the old buildings.
According to Forziati, the EDA will cover all costs associated with the construction without increasing local taxes. Forziati added that an additional $50 million more than the original $58 million estimate might be used for the massive construction project.
“We can’t let the horse go before the cart, but there is real reason for excitement,” said Board President John Raslowsky II Thursday. He said that the process is still in the very preliminary stages and the board must vote to approve the changes to the five-year plan, as well as to plan for all the logistical obstacles associated with building new schools.
Raslowsky added that if the board does vote to build the two new schools, they would be finished in the next three to five years.
If the board does decide to go forward, it must also decide where to build the schools. The EDA will pay for land acquisition, but Forziati said the process would be greatly expedited if the new schools were built on the footprint of the current schools.
The renovations and construction is the tangible product of the New Jersey Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act that was passed by both houses of the legislature and signed into law by the governor on July 18, 2000.
The program launched the New Jersey School Construction Initiative, a multi-faceted, comprehensive program for the design, renovation, repair and new construction of primary and secondary schools throughout the state.
The initiative is the largest school construction project in the state and represents one of the largest in the nation. The act anticipates the expenditure of approximately $12 billion over the next 10 years, of which $8.6 billion will be bonded state debt issued by the EDA.
The act provides $7 billion to the state’s 30 “special needs” Abbott school districts, of which Hoboken is one. In a 1998 New Jersey Supreme Court decision, the state is required to provide educational infrastructure improvements in the designated “special needs” districts.
“This is one-time only deal,” said Forziati about the large amount of Abbott funds made available by the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. “We’re not going to have another opportunity like this again in our lifetime.”
It is important to note that these new Abbott funds are completely independent of those that might be used to build the Technology Lab Middle/High School being championed by the Hoboken Stevens Partnership for Public Education (HSPPE). City officials hope that the Lab School, which is estimated to cost $20 million to build, will be designated as one of six demonstration projects in the state.
Designation as a demonstration project permits the new technology facility to be financed 100 percent by the state, and according to Superintendent of School Patrick Gagliardi, the status of the HSPPE project has no impact on the EDA’s announcement that it will fund the two new schools.