Voters to decide whether N.J. borrows $500 million for school upgrades
New Jersey’s only statewide ballot question asks whether the state should borrow $500 million for school improvements.
Voters in Moorestown and throughout New Jersey will decide Tuesday whether the state should borrow $500 million for school improvements. (WHYY file photo)
Garden State voters will decide Tuesday who the state will send to Congress next year.
They will also get to weigh in on New Jersey’s only statewide ballot question, which asks whether the state should borrow $500 million for school upgrades.
The money would be used not only to improve educational facilities and technological capacity, but also for security enhancements.
Councils representing New Jersey’s vocational schools and county colleges support the ballot initiative, which they say would help prepare students for the high-skilled workforce.
Critics claim the plan amounts to a way for New Jersey state government to borrow money without a plan for paying it back.
Of the total funding, $350 million would be go toward building and expanding facilities at county vocational schools as well as implementing security upgrades at K-12 schools.
And $50 million would be devoted to building and expanding facilities for students at New Jersey’s county colleges.
The remaining $100 million would be used to upgrade water infrastructure at some schools in the state.
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