School Advocates: resume construction

By John Zucal, Managing Editor

Advocates for the former Abbott school districts continue to push Gov. Chris Christie for the resumption of 53 construction projects throughout New Jersey, including one in East Orange.

In a statement Tuesday, an official with the Education Law Center said the projects had been in various stages of preparation or had received construction approval before they were halted by Christie within days of his becoming governor in January 2010.Permission to issue nearly $3 billion in bonds for construction projects had been issued in 2008, and 53 schools were to be built or receive expansions or repairs from the funds. That list included an estimated $34.5 million for a new Cleveland Street School.

Ten of the projects on the list received permission to proceed in February after what Christie said was a year of in-depth evaluation of the 53 projects.Even with the lack of work, more than $236 million of the $3 billion has been spent through the preparation stages, according to reports from the state’s School Development Authority and presented by the Education Law Center.

That amount included $1.1 million for the Cleveland school.In a statement, Sharon Krengel, the center’s policy and outreach coordinator, said reactivating all the projects could act as an economic stimulus.

“Governor Christie could put thousands of New Jersey’s construction workers, as well as architects, engineers and building suppliers, back to work right now,” said Krengel “simply by giving the go ahead to start school construction projects that have already been designed, developed and approved by the Department of Education and the School Development Authority.”Krengel cited a Rutgers University study in 2008 that estimated that for every $1 billion in school construction, nearly 3,000 full-time jobs could be created.“

At a time when New Jersey’s unemployment rate for construction workers is over 12 percent,and thousands of children attend schools that are in desperate need of repair and replacement, Governor Christie needs to act,” said Krengel.