State overrides Freehold Borough rejection of school referendum

FREEHOLD BOROUGH - Despite being rejected twice by voters, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) ordered the Freehold Borough School District to undergo a $32 million school expansion.

The school board successfully made its case to NJDOE Commissioner David Hespe that overcrowding in the district makes the project necessary.

"The board has demonstrated the necessity of its proposed project for the provision of a thorough and efficient system of education in the district. Additionally, the commissioner finds that the proposed project’s scope and costs are sufficiently narrowly tailored to protect the interests of taxpayers while ensuring that the borough’s students will receive the thorough and efficient education to which they are constitutionally entitled," Hespe said in a statement.

Hespe said that issuing bonds and overriding a referendum vote is "an extraordinary remedy" and said that "the state’s responsibility to ensure that children receive a thorough and efficient education as guaranteed under the State constitution" was the overriding reason for his decision.

"We thank the commissioner for his favorable final ruling which will allow us to move forward and address our overcrowding. The needs of the resident students of Freehold Borough have been placed at the forefront," Superintendent Rocco Tomazic said in a statement, thanking legislators and community leaders who worked on the appeal.

State Senator Jennifer Beck said the state will pay for 85 percent of the project. "This is a historic day for Freehold Borough," said the Republican, calling it a "long and in-depth process."

The district said it added 572 students during the course of the 2015-16 school year and rents nine classrooms from Freehold Township. It also uses school libraries as classrooms.