Enfield Adjusts Wording Of School Referendum

ENFIELD, CT — Enfield voters will see different wording on November’s $511 million school referendum, but town officials say the proposal itself has not changed.

The Town Council voted 9-0 Monday to replace “expansion and renovation” with “new construction” in the referendum resolution and ballot question, according to the town’s meeting materials.

Officials said the legal notice and appropriation already described the work as new construction. The phrase “expansion and renovation” was included in the referendum language by mistake.

The council made the change to keep the ballot question consistent with the rest of the documents approved for the project. During the meeting, officials repeatedly stressed that the correction does not change the project’s price, scope or financing.

The plan calls for new Hazardville Memorial, Prudence Crandall, Edgar H. Parkman and Henry Barnard elementary schools. Eli Whitney Elementary School would be converted into the Eagle Academy Therapeutic Day School.

The town would be authorized to borrow no more than $89 million. The remaining cost would be covered through state grants and other available funds.

The question is scheduled to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Councilors also voted 9-0 to correct minor wording in a related resolution authorizing the school district to seek state funding for the Eagle Academy project.

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