Gloucester City’s Middle School Just A Pipe Dream It Seems

There\’s an empty lot where the old Chester A. Redshaw Elementary School used to stand in New Brunswick where we ought to place a sign that reads: \”Your tax dollars at work.\”

Instead of being the home to a brand new school, that lot now stands as a testament to the empty promises that the state has made to its students, and the empty wallets of the taxpayers who have been fleeced as the state continues to squander the money we give it.

Note by Bill: Gloucester City has a similar lot (s). Seventy homes along with one business were demolished to make way for a New Elementary Middle School that was promised several years ago. State and County politicians continue to tell Gloucester City residents that the school will be built. However, the more you read about what is going on around the state the more it appears this school like others will never be built. The reason is clear, there is NO MONEY!

(In The Lobby Continues)

And people wonder why New Jerseyans are cynical when it comes to how government spends their tax dollars.

Here\’s a perfect example why.

In its infinite wisdom, the Schools Construction Corp. (SCC) has run out of money long before it finished dozens of new school projects that were promised – and in many cases even begun – in the state\’s poorest school districts.

\”We\’re at the bottom of the barrel in terms of dollars,\” said Scott A. Weiner, CEO of the SCC.

Yes, we\’d agree that the SCC is at the bottom of the barrel – especially when it comes to promising what it delivers, guarding against waste, and making sure that the state\’s tax dollars are spent wisely.

Mind you, this is not an agency that was poorly funded. This agency received a staggering $6 billion in order to replace overcrowded and decrepit schools in the state\’s poorest school districts.

Somehow, they managed to run out of money. Several audits found that weak management and overspending on professional fees had cost the program hundreds of millions of dollars.

Two years ago the SCC had to reduce the list of projects they would fund to 59. Yesterday, they dropped that number to 32.

Who knows what they\’ll drop it to next year.

So where does the SCC go to fix its troubles – you guessed it, the Legislature, pleading that they need even more money, another $3.25 billion! That\’s another $3.25 billion, by the way, from us.

\”If the Legislature does not act within a number of months, the number of impacted communities will grow,\” Weiner ominously warned.

Question: why is it the Legislature\’s responsibility to fix a problem that poor management created? It wasn\’t the Legislature that went ahead and knocked down the Redshaw School without knowing if it had the money to actually build a new school in its place. For that, we can thank the SCC.

You might be wondering, what has the $6 billion we\’ve already plunked down for this sinking ship brought us so far? According to the Ledger, we\’ve gotten the following since 2000: 29 completed new school buildings and 55 others either under construction or on the drawing board. In other words, assuming they don\’t decide next year that they can\’t fund the 55 currently in the works, our $6 billion will have paid for 77 new schools.

That equals more than $77 million per school.

Quite the price tag, eh?

And, in case you were wondering if the SCC had perhaps learned its lesson, consider this fact: The state already has invested $120 million in the 27 school projects suspended yesterday, and plans to spend another $40 million completing design work so they will be ready to bid for construction if lawmakers approve additional funding.

\”The reality is, if the funding isn\’t forthcoming, these projects don\’t get built,\” Weiner said.

The reality is, Mr. Weiner, you\’re out of cash! So why are you spending $40 million more of our tax dollars on projects that you yourself admit may never be built?

Projects like the Redshaw school, which, as the Ledger tells us, is sitting in the cast aside pile of the 27 schools that the SCC has decided it can\’t fund. The students who used to go to school at that empty lot are now going to school in a warehouse, with no money to build them a new school, unless the Legislature comes up with more of our money.

Which wouldn\’t be necessary, had anybody at the SCC been watching how the money was spent in the first place.

Which is why, the SCC says, they need more of our money.

We\’d say it was unbelievable, but this is New Jersey.