NJSBA joined other education, business and taxpayer organizations at a news conference in the State House last week to announce the formation of a broad coalition working to restore school construction funding.

Members of the coalition, Building Our Children’s Future, said they are concerned by the halt in school construction, and urged the state to fulfill its legal responsibility to provide adequate school facilities to all children. New work is on hold while the state investigates the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation, the agency created to administer the state’s school construction program.

“Although the state’s school construction funding program has been depleted, the need for new classrooms and renovations has not gone away,” said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director.  “We need to focus our energies on providing adequate construction funding and a strong accountability structure so that all communities—Abbott and non-Abbott—can provide safe, adequate learning environments for our children.”

Members of the coalition include representatives of organizations such as the New Jersey League of Women Voters, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Education Association, the Building Contractors Association, and the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.

Pick Up Costs In related news, Barry Zubrow, the chairman of the SCC, said Abbott districts may be required to pick up some of the costs of site acquisition and design of school construction.

According to published reports, Zubrow indicated in a March 3 speech to the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association that shifting some of the responsibilities of school construction to local control could be among the recommendations that he is expects to present to Governor Jon Corzine this month.