Brick Schools Referendum Still a Possibility

A referendum asking voters to approve repairs to Brick's schools is not off the table, but Board of Education members are attempting to determine the best approach toward paying for projects to upgrade and modernize the district's facilities.

Later this week, Brick Patch will explore two options the district could use to fund a number of improvement projects: a referendum asking voters to foot the bill and take advantage of grants to which the state has already committed; or using a state program aimed at improving energy efficiency to fund certain projects that would accomplish that goal without a referendum.

When the subject of school facilities projects was discussed at the Board of Education's Dec. 7 meeting, there were strong opinions from those in attendance.

"Get the word 'referendum' out of your vocabulary for now," said resident Nan Coll, who frequently attends board meetings. "The people are going to vote it down."

David Fischer, a member of the Community Facilities Committee, a volunteer group that has researched and proposed projects to improve facilities, said he favored a referendum.

"There are people who are going to say, 'it won't pass.' There are people who will say, 'it will pass,'" said Fischer. "What I have to say is that, we should let the people decide on this issue."

The issue of holding a referendum on school facilities projects has simmered since August, when a board vote to authorize a referendum was taken off the agenda before a meeting.

The facilities committee 34 projects which would have cost $116 million, but eventually the board whittled down the number of the projects to the point where a total of $19.6 million worth of work . Of that amount, taxpayers would have funded $11.8 million, with the state picking up $7.9 million through grants.

Jim Edwards, the district's business administrator, said last week that 60 days notice would be required for any referendum. If the district wants to use state grants to pay for a portion of any proposed projects, the referendum must be passed by May 1, when the grants expire.

Would you support a referendum to fund school improvement projects?