Vote NO on the SPF Bond Referendum on September 17

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education and Superintendent Mast are asking voters to approve a $115 million bond referendum on September 17, but the plan just doesn’t make sense.

SPF residents will have to fund the purchase and renovation of the La Grande School, which the district previously owned and sold to Children’s Specialized Hospital in 1986 for $360,000 based on the deed filed with Union County. The proposed cost to repurchase and renovate this building will be $81.4 million. This is unacceptable.

We are being told that SPF schools are over capacity because enrollment is up and projected to rise, but something doesn’t add up here. According to data on nj.gov/education that was published in the Board of Education’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports and obtained each year from the district’s October 15th Enrollment Summary, our schools had enrollment of 5,456 in 2007 and 5,490 in 2023, an increase of just 34 students over 16 years. Our schools have operated at the same capacity for almost two decades.

The district is relying heavily on a demographic study by Statistical Forecasting LLC. This study highlights a redistricting analysis that proposes 707 elementary school children changing schools. SPF residents with children who attend our only Blue Ribbon school, McGinn Elementary, should be very concerned. According to the analysis, 226 students will be pulled out of McGinn and sent to La Grande Elementary. Additionally, 107 students who will be pulled out of Brunner Elementary School will be sent to five different schools. This will be extremely disruptive to children and families who have settled in and made friends at their original schools.

For future student projections, the demographic study notes that estimates are partly based on “proposed” housing developments. The following phrases appear in the report, “…several developments have not been approved and may not come to fruition…” and “it should be stated that this is a rough estimate…” The report also notes that of eight potential residential developments in Scotch Plains, only one is currently under construction. We should not be approving a bond referendum based on projections that may never come to fruition.

The BOE and Dr. Mast would also like you to believe that approving the bond referendum will increase home values. Housing prices are at record levels because of the economic recovery and a tight housing market. This has occurred across the state in towns with good schools as well as towns with less desirable schools. SPF residents already pay some of the highest tax rates in the country, and while approving this bond won’t increase the value of your home, it will definitely raise your taxes even more. Let’s do the right thing for Scotch Plains and Fanwood residents and vote NO on the bond referendum on September 17.

Craig Peskin

Scotch Plains