By Donald Gilpin

Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is scheduled to decide this month, most likely at their May 8 Board of Education (BOE) meeting, on an arrangement for Cranbury students to continue to attend Princeton High School (PHS).

With concerns about overcrowding, a tight budget, and a facilities referendum coming up in October, some local residents, including several writers of letters to Town Topics, are worried about tax increases and have suggested that extending the agreement with Cranbury is not in the best financial interests of the district. PPS officials claim otherwise.

“The Board of Education has looked thoughtfully and objectively at our send-receive relationship with Cranbury,” wrote PPS Superintendent Steve Cochrane in a statement Monday. “It has reviewed in public session the legal, demographic, and economic implications of that relationship. It has also listened carefully to the comments and questions from members of the public. The goal of the Board is to make the very best decision for our students and our community.”

The Princeton-Cranbury sending-receiving partnership started in 1991, and last year Cranbury, which does not have a high school, paid $4,813,480 to send 280 students to PHS, according to a “Princeton-Cranbury Partnership Fact Sheet” on the PPS website.

“It is important to understand that, contrary to some assertions, Princeton taxpayers do not subsidize Cranbury students,” wrote PPS Board President Patrick Sullivan and Board Member Gregory Stankiewicz in a statement speaking as private citizens last fall. “The tuition from Cranbury provides a crucial stream of revenue to the Princeton Public Schools.”

The tuition paid by Cranbury, $17,191 per pupil, is expected to be the second largest source of revenue for the district’s operating budget. Cranbury also pays all transportation costs for its students, as well as out-of-district placement costs of all Cranbury students.

“The Board will review that agreement again during its meeting in May,” Cochrane said, “but I am hopeful the community can come together around the substantial educational and economic benefits of our longtime relationship with our Cranbury students and families.”

He also cited demographic and economic arguments for renewing the agreement, noting that the demographic data indicates “that an expansion of the high school would be necessary even without our students from Cranbury. The number of students from Princeton continues to rise while the numbers from Cranbury are actually in decline.

“Moreover, I believe it is evident that our agreement with Cranbury provides a significant economic benefit to the Princeton Public Schools, adding nearly $5 million each year to our operating budget. Much of that revenue, conservatively $3 million each year, supports the indirect costs of running the high school — costs which would remain the same with or without the Cranbury students. Those indirect costs might include, for example, salaries for administrators, secretaries, counselors, and coaches, as well as costs for utilities, maintenance, and cleaning of the building.”

The facilities bond referendum coming up in October has catalyzed some of the controversy over the Princeton-Cranbury partnership. Public schools are not allowed to contribute to the capital improvements of another school, which belongs only to the district where the improvement is made, but the interest due on capital bonds from a referendum is included in the calculation of tuition. This means that any interest on improvements made at PHS through a referendum will be factored into tuition calculations for Cranbury students.

Former School Board member Todd Tieger, in an April 18 Town Topics letter, suggested that pressure be applied to persuade Cranbury to make a goodwill contribution to PPS‘s capital budgetary needs, and Jian Chen, in an April 4 letter to the editor, argued that terminating the agreement with Cranbury would save money by at least postponing the need for a referendum. Chen stated, “The district owes residents a detailed explanation as to why extending this agreement is still in our best interest.”

Cochrane concluded his May 1 statement on the Cranbury partnership with an emphasis on the statistics and the intangibles that go beyond the statistics. “The numbers add up for continuing our agreement with Cranbury. As always, numbers tell a story, and it’s important this story goes beyond the economic benefits to the Princeton Public Schools and includes as well the continuing academic, extracurricular, and social contributions of our Cranbury students and the positive partnership with the Cranbury community.”