News outlets are announcing that New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe is overturning the results of a local referendum and ordering a $32 million school expansion for Freehold Borough’s public schools. I wrote about Freehold’s funding and facilities woes last month, when EdBuild used the school system as a national example of an “island district” where “arbitrary borders serve to lock students into, or out of, opportunity.” Freehold, poor and minority, is underfunded by more than $8,000 per student. A State Judge said the buildings are “severely overcrowded.” Kids with special needs don’t get the support they need.
Commissioner Hespe wrote in his ruling that “this decision to authorize the issuance of bonds outside of a referendum represents an extraordinary remedy.” Superintendent Rocco Tomazic said in a statement, "We thank the commissioner for this favorable final ruling which will allow us to move forward and address our overcrowding,The needs of the resident students of Freehold Borough have been placed at the forefront."