Interim superintendent Bollendorf outlines Moorestown referendum to ease overcrowding, add full‑day kindergarten

Interim Superintendent Bollendorf said the Moorestown Township Public School District is preparing a bond referendum intended to create classroom space, allow the district to offer full‑day tuition‑free kindergarten, and fund long‑term facility repairs.

“...I saw what I believe to be overcrowding at our elementary level with our first and second grade primarily where we cap classes at 25,” Bollendorf said, adding that best practices are closer to 22 students per class and that kindergarten classes are capped at 22 (best practice about 20).

Bollendorf told student interviewers that his review after arriving as interim superintendent found capacity problems “now,” not only in the future, and that some neighborhood students must be bused to other schools because their home school is full. He said the referendum would address space shortages by reconfiguring grade assignments and adding classrooms.

The proposal would move sixth graders to the middle school and reimagine the district’s upper elementary school (UES) as a grade school for grades 3–5, Bollendorf said. He emphasized that the UES would be redesigned for younger students so that parents would not be “sending their third graders to the UES as we know it.”

Bollendorf said the elementary reconfiguration would free roughly four classrooms at each of the three elementary schools, enabling full‑day tuition‑free kindergarten, reductions in first‑ and second‑grade class sizes, and potential expansion of preschool programming in the future. He noted the district is currently ineligible to apply for some preschool expansion grants until it offers full‑day kindergarten.

He described a referendum as a form of borrowing with taxpayer approval that spreads the cost over time and can be partially offset by state aid. “In some cases, [the state] can fund some of the projects up to 40%,” he said, illustrating the math with a hypothetical $100 million referendum where the state funds $40 million and local taxpayers cover $60 million.

Bollendorf listed capital needs the referendum would aim to cover, including aging HVAC systems, roof replacements, parking lot resurfacing and a turf field replacement. He said financing these projects via a bond would reduce recurring pressure on the district’s annual operating budget, freeing money for staffing and classroom needs.

Explaining timing, he said earlier referendum debt is coming off the books, which could allow the district to replace older debt with new borrowing in ways that mitigate immediate tax impact. If the referendum does not pass, Bollendorf warned, “we’ll continue running class sizes…well beyond 25 children,” and projected housing growth would exacerbate capacity shortfalls.

On process, Bollendorf said the board solicited community input and engaged architects and engineers, submitted multiple applications to the state for funding, and is now waiting for the state’s determinations on which projects and what amounts it will fund. He said the board must finalize referendum questions 60 days before a vote and identified a potential election date of March 11, 2025; the board’s deadline to approve ballot language would be Jan. 11, 2025, under that timeline. Registered voters age 18 and older may vote in person or by mail.

Bollendorf also described non‑instructional changes tied to the plan, including relocating buildings and grounds operations and a bus depot to free space on the high school campus for parking and athletic facilities. He said he will continue community outreach and invited groups to hear more about the proposal.

The board and the community are awaiting the state’s decisions on funding and the district’s final determination of which projects to include on the ballot. Until then, Bollendorf said, the district will continue outreach and planning.