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Teaneck board approves $9.29M in payments, rejects $2.83M Pre-K grant and greenlights $3.82M in facilities work
Summary
At its Dec. 18 meeting the Teaneck Board of Education approved November payments totaling $9,287,251.06, moved to reject a $2,826,240 Bryant Elementary pre-K grant because the required local match was deemed financially infeasible, and approved prioritized facilities projects not to exceed $3,822,075.
The Teaneck Board of Education voted Dec. 18 to approve payments of claims for November 2024 totaling $9,287,251.06 and to move forward with several capital projects, while rejecting a state grant offer to add five pre-K classrooms at Bryant Elementary.
The approved payment motion listed fund-level disbursements: General Fund $7,883,274.39; Capital Outlay $90,603.54; Special Revenue $764,519.18; Community Education $79,592.88; and Food Service $469,261.07, for a total of $9,287,251.06. Board Member Victoria Fisher moved the finance motion; Jonathan Rodriguez seconded.
In a separate resolution the board recorded an offer from the Office of School Facility Projects of $2,826,240 to add five pre-K classrooms at Bryant Elementary but rejected the funds. The minutes state that the grant’s required financial matching terms were “deemed not feasible for the Teaneck School district as it would impose financial strain,” and the board resolved, upon the superintendent’s recommendation, to decline the offer.
The board also approved engagement of architects and contractors for a set of prioritized facilities projects not to exceed $3,822,075. The projects listed in the motion include electrical-service upgrades at Bryant ($1,073,000) and Thomas Jefferson Middle School ($1,309,000), Teaneck High School auditorium sound-system upgrades ($179,601), and replacement of the Teaneck High School track ($1,260,474). Meeting materials note that these projects may be funded from the 2025–26 general operating budget or from capital-reserve funds if the work needs to begin before the audit of fiscal year 2024 is complete.
Other facilities work recorded in the minutes included a Project Change Order #2 for the THS electrical upgrade and approval of sodding the Teaneck High School football field at a proposed cost of $156,250.
The minutes show the motions and roll-call style vote blocks; where recorded, the motions carried. The board’s actions affect near-term capital planning and leave open how the district will fund any future preschool expansion given the board’s rejection of the state grant.
The board’s next procedural steps for the facilities work include engaging design and contracting professionals and, where applicable, returning to the board for specific contract approvals and funding transfers.
