Urging Princeton Voters to Approve All Three PPS Referendum Questions
To the Editor:
I attended the school district’s presentation on the PPS Facilities Bond Referendum on December 9 (recording available on the PPS website) and was very impressed with the thoughtfulness of the district plan. I am writing to urge Princeton voters to approve all three Referendum questions on January 28.
Princeton will be welcoming many new students in the next few years. There are over 1,000 units of housing in the pipeline, with more to come. Meanwhile some of our school buildings are already over-capacity and outdated in design. And certain critical infrastructure, such as the HVAC system at PHS, is overdue for replacement.
The district plan to address these issues is both right-sized and right-timed. It will create smart, flexible space that supports excellent educational programming even as we grow. It will maximize the availability of State dollars to reduce the impact on our local property taxes. And the remaining tax impact is largely offset by the reduction in tax in 2021, when a portion of the District’s previous debt was retired.
If the referendum is not successful, the schools will be forced to use precious operating budget dollars for work-arounds like modular classrooms and increased bussing. Costly temporary repairs and excessive energy costs will further impact operating funds. Due to the space limitations alone, we can anticipate significant impacts on class size, music, arts and science programs, and disruptive redistricting.
My own kids have graduated, but I believe that our public schools are a core community asset that we all have a stake in maintaining. The choice for our schools and our town is clear!