The Monroe school board wants to explore its options before deciding how to pay for a new high school — yes, pay for a new high school already approved by voters.
The problem is that the $82.9 million approved by voters in 2003 is about $36 million less than the building is now estimated to cost. Part of the cost hike is due to a slower-than-anticipated process surrounding a complicated land swap between Middlesex County and the township that needs state Green Acres approval — a delay that has pushed back the start of construction.
As we said in an earlier editorial, there is plenty of blame to go around on this and it is incumbent upon the board to get the project moving.
The increased price tag, however, has added another wrinkle to a controversial project (there is some opposition to the land swap locally and among the state’s environmental community). Were the state to give final approval tomorrow, the district would still need to figure out how to pay the balance of the project — or whether it might have to scale back its plans.
The board has asked its Finance Committee to look into the matter and may turn to the township for help.
That raises some concerns. The township already has done as much as it can — the land swap made a lot of sense and helped save the district on property acquisition. To ask the township to get further involved would be an abdication of responsibility on the part of the board: A township contribution to the project would not necessarily safe taxpayers money, but would allow the district to reduce the amount for which it seeks approval from the voters. This would be disingenuous — a bureaucratic game of three-card monte.
It also would be a financial mistake: The board can charge Jamesburg for a portion of the interest on the high school project, because Jamesburg accounts for about a fifth of the student body; the township cannot. That would lessen Jamesburg’s potential contribution (I don’t wish to imply that the district should soak Jamesburg, but that the borough should pay its fair share).
In the end, I think there is only one legitimate option: Scale back the design for the new school, cutting its potential pricetag, and ask voters to fund that figure. It is the only fair thing to do.
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Hank Kalet 