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Referendum 2024

FAQ for 2024 Referendum

 

What will this referendum accomplish for Princeton Public Schools students?

On Tuesday, April 30, 2024 the Princeton Board of Education approved a motion to submit paperwork to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) seeking approval for a referendum to fund new classrooms and core spaces at Community Park Elementary, Littlebrook Elementary, Princeton Middle School, and Princeton High School. The referendum vote is planned for December 2024 or January 2025, depending upon the timing of NJDOE approvals.

The approximate cost of the proposed new construction and renovations is between $85 million and $89.5 million, which does not include potential support from the state. The estimated additional tax on the average assessed home of $848,037 would be $551.70. The specific dollar amount and referendum questions for voters to consider will be determined after the NJDOE reviews the application and advises which portion of the costs are eligible for NJ State funding. The state will reimburse up to 34 percent of principal and interest on bonds for renovations. 

 

What will this referendum accomplish for Princeton Public Schools students?

Princeton is growing. Over the next few years, the town will see more than 1,100 new residential units. Princeton Public Schools are planning to welcome new schoolchildren, and to do so in a manner that maintains the quality and scale of current programming.

  • Achieving that goal will entail right-sizing facilities at the elementary and middle schools, and repurposing space at the high school. The referendum, if passed, will provide funds to maintain and enhance the functionality of aging school facilities, dating from the 1920s through the 1960s.

  • The 2025 referendum is focused on students and prioritizes their education. The district has paid close attention to taxpayer affordability and overall financial sustainability.

  • The referendum projects are the product of planning conversations that began in 2019 and then paused for COVID.

In spring 2023, the Board of Education directed the district administration to prioritize capacity solutions for the elementary and middle schools, sufficient for the next five to 10 years. High school capacity had been addressed in a previous referendum project. The district engaged SLAM Collaborative to provide projections of enrollments. Enrollment monitoring and projections are undertaken by the district on an ongoing basis.

 

What happens if the referendum does not pass?

Without the funds provided from the referendum, redistricting will happen sooner, and it will be difficult to maintain small class sizes and the neighborhood school feel that currently characterizes the elementary schools.

 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

What are the plans for the elementary schools?

The plan for the district’s four elementary schools is to sustain and enhance their character as neighborhood schools. We want as many of our children as possible to be able to walk to school, and we want to maintain the small class sizes that are essential to personalized instruction.

  • As a practical matter, achieving that goal entails ensuring some amount of extra capacity at each school, so that when there are class cohorts that are anomalous in size, they can be accommodated without crowding or repurposing specials and support spaces as grade level classrooms.

  • Community Park and Littlebrook, the two elementary schools located closest to the new housing units, will be enlarged.

  • Redistricting will ensure that all four schools draw optimally from their surrounding neighborhoods and that there is parity in class sizes and programming. The work also will allow us to improve bus routes, decreasing ride times and transportation costs.

  • Community Park will house four classrooms for each grade level, kindergarten through fifth; this plan will allow the school to sustain two sections per grade in its dual language immersion program.

  • All other elementary schools will remain at three classrooms per grade. Community Park and Littlebrook will have additional “flex” classrooms for enrollment bubbles and students from future housing. The additional classrooms will help prevent overcrowding or the need to repurpose specials and support spaces as grade level classrooms.

  • Core and specialized spaces will be added or renovated at both Community Park and Littlebrook.

  • At Community Park, an addition at the back of the building will accommodate classrooms, as well as a gymnasium and multipurpose room.

  • Renovated spaces at Community Park will also include the music room, the library, the kitchen, and cafeteria. The soccer field in the back of the building will be realigned to provide space for the addition.

  • At Littlebrook, the addition will house classrooms and a vocal music room. Several rooms in the existing building will be renovated to provide student support services.

  • Both Community Park and Littlebrook will net six new classrooms.

The elementary school playgrounds are resources to the entire community, and they see regular use both by public school children and by those who do not attend our public schools. Edwards Engineering Group/L2A has been engaged to do a playground design study for each of the four elementary schools, with the goal of ensuring safe, accessible and welcoming outdoor play spaces at each school. At Community Park and Littlebrook, these improvements will in part renew portions of the playgrounds that will be disrupted by the respective building additions. This playground project is being undertaken with funding from the 2023 referendum.

 

PRINCETON MIDDLE SCHOOL

What are the plans for Princeton Middle School?

The planned additions and renovations at Princeton Middle School will address all aspects of the academic program, including, importantly, the sciences. They will enhance scheduling in support of the rich academic program PPS offers. Upgrades and new classrooms at Princeton Middle School will allow our educators to improve and fine-tune the building schedule and maximize capacity in the school.

  • Improvements will accommodate additional students while sustaining the house system, which ensures that students are part of a close-knit community that supports them appropriately, especially during the transition from elementary classrooms.

  • The additions, including covered walkways and outdoor learning space, will enhance public spaces and the flow of student traffic through the building.

  • Regular classrooms and multifunctional rooms that can be configured for small group instruction will be added.

  • Purpose-designed spaces will include two new science labs and reconfigured rooms for vocal music and band, accommodating larger ensembles.

  • Teachers will have more space for collaborative activities.

  • Visitors will be welcomed into a new main office with small, private conference areas at the front of the building.

  • The expanded cafeteria and multipurpose space at the back will accommodate gym classes, assemblies, and enhanced food service during the day, as well as discrete public space after hours, accessible through its own exterior door.

  • The additions at the front and back of the building will incorporate two new corridors and an outdoor covered walkway to create a circular flow of traffic through the building.

 

How is the current plan for the middle school different from the first option that was considered?

  • The current plan renovates more of the first floor of the existing building and yields more small group and flexible teaching spaces.

  • It creates a more secure and ADA accessible entrance to the school building.

  • It expands and renovates the main office to provide more work and conference space

 

PRINCETON HIGH SCHOOL

What are the plans for Princeton High School?

  • Renovations at Princeton High School will increase student capacity by repurposing space that had been occupied by the Information Technology department.

  • Three classrooms will be added, plus a room for small group instruction and two galleries, which can be configured into presentation and instructional space, as needed. A corridor that wraps around two of the classrooms and the galleries will itself provide additional space to display student artwork.

  • The renovation will encompass the building’s HVAC system, including the chillers, the boilers, and the air handling units. This work will bring these outdated systems up to par with those at the elementary and middle schools.

 

How much will the referendum projects cost taxpayers?

The approximate cost of the proposed new construction and renovations is between $85 million and $89.5 million, which does not include potential support from the state. The estimated additional tax on the average assessed home of $848,037 would be $551.70. The specific dollar amount and referendum questions for voters to consider will be determined after the NJDOE reviews the application and advises which portion of the costs are eligible for NJ State funding. The state will reimburse up to 34 percent of principal and interest on bonds for renovations.

 

Do you have a question about the referendum you would like answered? Please email communications@princetonk12.org