State
chips in for new school
Promises to fund current
work.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 •
By SARAH CASSI • The Express
Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- Preliminary site work
already under way for the proposed $88 million high school
will be funded by the state, Superintendent Gordon Pethick
said during Monday's board meeting.
Pethick said New Jersey Schools
Construction Corp. officials told him the $8 million site
work will be completed.
"That's positive news," Pethick said,
adding that officials still do not know if the rest of the
construction will be funded.
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 SCC 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 the $6 billion fund to finance 59 of an
anticipated 350 projects. 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.
Pethick said an ad-hoc committee,
comprised of more than 30 residents and school officials to
address the SCC funding dilemma, has moved forward in their
fight for the reinstatement of the funding. Members of the
"Save Our School Committee" met with the school board's
public relations committee Monday night.
"Really (any action) has to be channeled
through the board It's going to be very aggressive," Pethick
said. "We will go to whatever measures it takes to get this
high school built."
As a result of its two meetings the
ad-hoc committee compiled information about Abbott funding
and the high school project and created an initial overview
of what an action plan should include, Pethick
said.
The committee is scheduled to meet Sept.
20 to choose an action plan. Suggestions include a letter-
writing campaign, attending key meetings and possibly making
presentations about the new high school on behalf of the
school district at those meetings, Pethick said.
"We want to start putting people with the
assignments," Pethick said.
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.
|