PPS Bond Referendum Will Support Children and Benefit Home Values
To the Editor:
Like many of our neighbors, one of the reasons we moved into the Municipality of Princeton was due to the excellent public schools. Our three boys (two of whom will graduate from Princeton High School this June) have benefited tremendously from their time at Littlebrook, Princeton Middle School, and Princeton High School. So that future students can likewise enjoy the advantages of a top-notch public school education, we urge our Princeton neighbors to support the January 28 public schools referendum.
Our schools are already at or near capacity — this before the increase expected in the coming years due to the 1,000+ additional housing units coming online in the next five years. In order to continue to provide the same level of public school excellence so many of our children have enjoyed, particularly related to class size, it is imperative that we plan ahead and provide more space in our schools and fund necessary renovations. Unfortunately, we cannot pay for the necessary expansions/renovations out of existing operating funds, due to the state-imposed 2 percent cap on the amount school taxes can grow year-to-year and because doing so would prevent us from receiving state aid to subsidize the cost of improvements (and, if all three of the questions described below pass, our community will receive an estimated total of $19.9M in state aid).
On January 28, you will be presented with three questions: Question 1 provides funding to replace the HVAC system at PHS and to expand Community Park (this would cost, on average, $222 annually per household); Question 2 expands the already over-crowded PMS, and reconfigures parts of PHS to improve functionality (together with Question 1, this would cost, on average $447 per household); and Question 3 will fund much-needed new classrooms and expanded common areas at Littlebrook (this, together with Questions 1 and 2, would cost on average, $532 annually per household).
If Question 1 doesn’t pass, Question 2 can’t pass. Similarly, if Questions 1 and 2 don’t pass, Question 3 can’t pass. Passing all three would result in: 23 new classrooms (including science labs), five new small group instruction rooms, three expanded cafeterias/multipurpose rooms, one new PMS multipurpose room, one expanded elementary library, five expanded/renovated performing arts spaces, two new performing arts spaces, and one updated PHS HVAC system.
We understand that $532 annually is not a trivial amount — especially for those without school-aged children. However, not only does this support our children (and future children), but it also benefits all of our home values — as, like so many of us, future neighbors will be attracted to Princeton due to its high-caliber schools.
We also know that you may have a lot of questions, and encourage you to visit sites.google.com/princetonk12.org/pps-referendum-2025/home for more information.