Wayne voters reject $170M school referendum by wide margin. What's next?
WAYNE — Voters soundly defeated a $169.8 million referendum Tuesday that would have funded improvements at all 15 schools in the K-12 district.
The outcome is a heavy blow for the Board of Education, which put years of planning into the bond proposal.
Unofficial results released by the Passaic County Clerk’s Office show 5,076 votes against the funding package and 3,018 votes in favor of it. Those tallies will change in the coming days as election officials count mail-in ballots and verify provisional ballots.
The bond proposal was rejected at all but one voting precinct in the 1st Ward, the results show.
Of the township’s 42,293 registered voters, 8,131 cast ballots for a turnout of 19.2%.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the district thanked the public for learning about its plan.
“Early tallies show voters rejected the referendum, leaving the district to consider next steps for funding,” school officials said. “We’ll continue to prioritize feedback as we explore options for addressing the district’s needs.”
The district would have received $39 million in state aid to offset the cost of most projects.
The bond proposal was the first that township voters were asked to consider since March 2015, when trustees posed a $4.8 million referendum on security upgrades.
That, too, was defeated at the polls.
This funding package included 63 items, the largest of which was a $44.9 million addition to the early childhood center at Preakness School. The century-old building on Hamburg Turnpike would have been expanded to make room for students up to fifth grade.
School officials said the extra space was needed to accommodate children who are anticipated to come from future housing complexes, including a 473-unit project at the site of the former headquarters of Valley National Bank on Valley Road.
The bond proposal also covered new sets of bleachers at football fields at Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley high schools, and the stabilization of soil beneath the foundation of the cafeteria at Anthony Wayne Middle School on Garside Avenue.
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School officials tried to impress on taxpayers that the investments were well-timed because debt service for the last successful bond proposal — for the construction of Anthony Wayne, approved in January 2003 — is about to end.
However, the district met considerable resistance after Mayor Christopher Vergano launched a campaign to oppose the plan. He said the cost per household would have been too much for taxpayers to spend in this economy.
Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: devencentis@northjersey.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wayne voters reject $170M bond for school upgrades by wide margin
