Somerville voters to decide two-question school bond March 11; resident cites $7.3 million in state aid

A community member urged Somerville residents to approve a two-question bond referendum on Tuesday, March 11, to pay for facility upgrades across the Somerville Public School District and to unlock $7,300,000 in state aid, the speaker said.

The speaker, identified in the record as a resident, said the Somerville Board of Education selected projects intended to benefit “every student in Somerville,” including updated science labs, multipurpose rooms, roofs, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, security vestibules, athletic storage, auditorium renovations and a multi-sport turf field at Vandiver Elementary School. “The science labs in particular haven't been updated since the 1970s,” the resident said.

The resident described the second ballot question as a plan to “transform our high school,” listing a proposed athletic building with a gym, locker rooms, a weight room and an athletic training facility. The speaker said that facility would be available beyond athletics to groups including the marching band, color guard and robotics team and would also serve community recreation programs.

The speaker said voters will face two separate ballot questions and presented the district’s timing as advantageous because state aid is available and debt from prior referenda will soon be paid off. “As a result, voter approval of question 1 would lead to a tax decrease, and voter approval of questions 1 and 2 would lead to a tax increase,” the resident said. The resident also said that the $7,300,000 in state aid “comes from money that Somerville residents, as well as every other New Jersey resident, already paid into the state through taxes” and that “only communities with a voter-approved referendum can access this type of aid.”

The speaker encouraged turnout and provided practical voting information: polls will be open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Vandiver Elementary School and Somerville High School, and voters can visit somervilleschools.org for project and financial details, the resident said.

All remarks in this article are taken from the public comment attributed to the resident. The Board of Education’s formal placement of the questions on the ballot, the district’s detailed project lists and any official tax estimates were described by the speaker during public comment; this article notes those claims but does not independently verify tax impacts or the state aid figure.