Tug-of-war
over 'demo' schools
SCC suspends most work, but hangs
on to $543M for six community-focused projects
Friday, October 14, 2005 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL •
Star-Ledger Staff
Despite having suspended work on hundreds
of schools for lack of money, the state is reserving more
than half a billion dollars for six showcase schools
designed to remake blighted urban neighborhoods.
The six so-called "demonstration
projects" have been allocated $543 million by the Schools
Construction Corp., the agency charged with a court-ordered
makeover of hundreds of decrepit schools in the state's
neediest communities. That amount represents a sizable
portion of what's left of the $6 billion that lawmakers
authorized for the building program in 2000.
Construction has yet to begin on any of
the six projects, which range from a performing arts high
schools in East Orange to one in Union City that includes
apartments and a rooftop football stadium. But the funding
for the six remained intact last summer, when SCC officials
announced they had run out of money and had to suspend work
on all but 59 of 266 schools under development.
A key legislator said yesterday that the
pot of money earmarked for the demonstration schools may
have to be redistributed.
"I would say that would be looked at when
we get the School Construction Commission up and running,"
said Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D-Essex), a co-chairman of
the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Public Schools. "We
have to look at every source of revenue."
Officials in the communities that have
been promised the projects are jealously guarding the funds,
and even asking for millions more to account for rising
construction costs.
But in Newark, Paterson and other towns
where plans to replace aging, overcrowded schools have been
put on hold, advocates say they would like a piece of the
money reserved for the demonstration program.
"That would buy 10 schools," said Irene
Sterling, executive director of the Paterson Education Fund,
a nonprofit advocacy group. "They looked at everything else,
so I think it would be fair to put this on the
table."
In Paterson, only eight of 43 proposed
school projects have won funding. Another 12 projects in
Paterson have been shelved for lack of money, leaving more
than 20,000 Paterson youngsters in substandard classrooms,
Sterling testified at a legislative hearing last
week.
Paterson's projects are among 207 school
projects in various stages of development that the SCC
suspended in July, declaring that there was only $1.4
billion left of the $6 billion allocation.
At the time they made that announcement,
SCC officials did not reveal that they had another $543
million reserved for the demonstration projects.
Gerald Murphy, chief operating officer of
the SCC, said he plans to have all six demonstration
projects under construction before the end of next year, and
that they will need all of the $543 million.
"Right now, as far as we are concerned,
these projects have been designated," Murphy said. "They are
committed money all the way out."
The demonstration projects were inserted
in the 2000 legislation that set up the school building
program as a political concession to lawmakers concerned
about spending billions of dollars on new schools without
ensuring they would have a broader impact on community
revitalization.
Since then, they have continued to have a
political cast. When Gov. James E. McGreevey's
administration selected the six projects in 2003, members of
his Cabinet fanned out across the state to make the
announcements five days before legislative elections that
were critical to establishing Democratic majorities in the
Assembly and Senate.
The six projects chosen include a $141
million high school in New Brunswick that was championed by
former Senate President John Lynch and another $71 million
elementary school in Camden that complements a $150 million
state- funded overhaul of the city.
And the construction firm managing and
building four of the six demonstration projects -- worth a
total of $337 million --is Joseph Jingoli & Sons, one of
the Democratic Party's most prolific
contributors.
Jingoli has given Democrats more than $1
million since 1997, including $321,000 contributed since the
demonstration projects were awarded in late 2003, state
records show.
Dennis T. Mockaitis, a senior vice
president for the Lawrenceville-based construction company,
defended the schools' price tags.
"We believe the children in the Abbott
districts should be afforded the same opportunities, the
same amenities, enjoyed by the students in the wealthier
districts," he said.
Two Republican lawmakers who helped write
the school construction legislation in 2000, Sen. William
Gormley (R-Atlantic) and Assemblyman Joe Malone
(R-Burlington), said they were willing to taking a second
look at the special projects.
"Should they be looking at the most
judicious use of the money that remains? Yes," Malone said.
"As the need arises for legitimate funding of schools, every
bad decision will make it that much harder."
Diverting funds from the six communities
chosen to host demonstration projects would not be
easy.
On Wednesday, during a ceremony to mark
the start of East Orange's $115 million demonstration
school, Mayor Robert Bowser complained that the SCC was
refusing to cover $8.3 million in inflationary expenses in
his community's project, and was instead seeking to scale it
back.
"Guess what?" Bowser told SCC officials
and local dignitaries at the ceremony. "It ain't gonna
happen."
Staff writer Steve Chambers contributed to this report.
Dunstan McNichol covers state government is sues. He may be
reached at dmcni chol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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