Use of State Funds Will Result in Savings for Local Taxpayers
By Barbara A. Preston | Posted September 13, 2023
As students, teachers, and faculty began to fill classrooms, lawmakers in Trenton announced the approval of nearly $450 million in school construction funds to address fundamental building needs.
The funding will be distributed among 261 districts, including more than $9.45 million for various school building projects in Montgomery Township, Branchburg, Hillsborough, Manville, Readington, and Somerville school districts.
The state awarded almost $2.5 million to the Montgomery School District in the form of a Regular Operating District grant, according to Montgomery School Superintendent Mary E. McLoughlin.
Montgomery High School (file photo).
"We applied for the grant," she said. "It will be used for essential building upkeep projects. We will be awarded prorated amounts for the projects as they are completed. If all are completed we will receive the total state amount of $2,467,020. The timeframe is the next three years."
The proposed projects, which total approximately $6,167,550, are listed below.
1. Upper Middle School – Rooftop chiller (air conditioning unit)
2. Lower Middle School – New rooftop units
3. Montgomery High School – Rooftop units (replacements)
4. Upper Middle School – Partial rooftop replacement (gym and auditorium)
The grant money will help New Jersey’s public schools by creating accommodating learning environments, according to Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D-Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset). Freiman, along with Sadaf Jaffer, are Montgomery's representatives in the NJ General Assembly.
The money will be used for essential school building systems upgrades, building code problems, 320 HVAC systems, 79 boilers or water heaters, and 211 roofs.
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“This funding is a win-win for our schools and communities,” said Freiman. “Students and staff will have state-of-the-art, safe learning environments while our proactive fiscal management gives us the bandwidth to fix the aging infrastructure without straining the communities’ pockets.”
As part of a local and state partnership, the funding will invest in hundreds of projects through New Jersey. Selection of school projects that will receive funds was determined by the New Jersey Department of Education; grants will be administered by the Schools Development Authority. State funding for the school construction initiative was made possible through legislation signed in 2022 and grant funding from SDA allocations.
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