P'burg
joins court fight for financing
District among those seeking
ruling compelling the state to fund construction.
Thursday, September 29, 2005 • By SARAH CASSI
• The Express-Times
Philipsburg and 12 other Abbott school
districts are taking their funding battle to the New Jersey
Supreme Court.
Attorney Robert Shapiro filed a motion
with the court Tuesday seeking funding for projects approved
by the state Department of Education and currently in the
pre-development stages.
Phillipsburg projects approved by the DOE
include the $88 million proposed high school, an early
childhood center and the renovation and expansion of the
Andover-Morris Elementary School.
The motion, filed jointly with the
Education Law Center, is pending, but Shapiro said the state
already filed its opposition to the motion.
"Their position is just basically for the
matter to be delayed until long-range facility plans are
submitted by the districts our position is that's just
calling for an indefinite delay," Shapiro said.
Shapiro said the motion should be acted
on within the week, but hoped the motion will spur the state
Legislature to act.
"We would hope the Legislature would
respond and give the appropriate bridge funding," Shapiro
said. "Let's get these projects back on track. There's a
real compelling need to complete these projects."
The Phillipsburg School District is one
of 31 Abbott school districts -- poor districts named after
court decisions ordering equitable per-pupil financing-- and
expected the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. to pay
for a new high school.
Phillipsburg and other Abbott districts
were left in the lurch when the SCC recently revealed it had
only enough left of a $6 billion fund to finance 59 of an
anticipated 350 projects statewide. Despite Phillipsburg's
status as an Abbott district, the state agency announced
July 27 it decided against plans to pay for the high school
with the last $1.4 billion of the special fund.
Earlier this month SCC officials said the
new Phillipsburg High School's $8 million preliminary site
work, already under way, will be funded by the state. The
preliminary site work includes the construction of six
athletic fields, parking lots and a three-quarter-mile
entrance from Belvidere Road.
"This is a very important act that we had
to take to attempt to secure the funding to continue to
build our high school," said Superintendent Gordon
Pethick.
School board President Rod Pianelli said
the motion is just the beginning of what the district will
need to do to finish the high school.
"We will do anything and everything that
we have to do to get what is justifiably needed for our
children," Pianelli said. "We will stop at nothing I will
not be content, I will not be happy until we open the doors
to the new high school."
Pethick and Pianelli along with Assistant
Superintendent Jackie Attinello will testify before a joint
committee of the state Senate and General Assembly on Monday
about funding for the high school.
Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by
e-mail at scassi@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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