TRENTON, N.J.��—��New Jersey Gov.��Mikie Sherrill delivered her inaugural budget address��earlier this month, outlining her��administration’s plan to��protect children’s futures��through a��$12.4 billion��investment in K-12 schools for FY 2027.

“My budget is focused on ensuring kids in New Jersey have access to the best education and brightest possible future,” said Sherrill. “The budget includes a record level of K-12 school funding, while acknowledging that much more work is needed to make sure students and taxpayers get the best return on our investment. It lays the foundation for future improvements – like stronger academic and mental health outcomes, shared services, and more efficient spending – to better support children from birth through graduation and strengthen schools statewide.”

The $60.7 billion budget includes a proposed surplus of $5.4 billion, while redirecting over 74 percent of the total budget back into New Jersey communities in the form of grants-in-aid for property tax relief, social services, and higher education, as well as state aid to schools, municipalities, and counties.

Among plans to increase affordability and increase government accountability, the budget prioritizes investing in education. Sherrill proposes a record breaking $12.4 billion for K-12 schools in FY 2027, the largest amount in state history and a $370 million increase over last year’s funding. The budget also includes a record $1.4 billion for Preschool Education Aid. Sherrill added that she looks forward to working with the Legislature to modernize and stabilize the school funding formula.������

In preparation for New Jersey’s first cell phone-free school year this fall, the proposal includes $125,000 for the new Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and Awareness in the Department of Health. The office will research and make recommendations to guide responsible use of social media platforms among youth. The budget also includes $500,000 for a new Social Media Research Center at one of New Jersey’s higher education institutions.����

An allocation of $15 million for high-impact tutoring — double the amount of FY 2026 m— would help nearly 100 more districts and 13,500 more students, with the goal to accelerate learning and address academic achievement gaps spurred by the pandemic. The budget would also provide 21,000 schoolchildren with free meals through the Working-Class Families Anti-Hunger Act.��

The announcement reflects a continuation of policy choices aligned with Sherrill’s goals to modernize and stabilize the School Funding Reform Act, which provide the blueprint for New Jersey’s state aid formula. The budget limits reductions in state aid to no more than 3 percent, which will prevent the loss of an additional $188.4 million for school districts. Without a limit to cuts, some districts have faced losses of up to 60 percent of their state aid in recent years. These limits on reductions are offset by a 6 percent limit on state aid increases, ensuring overall stability while recognizing the need for annual adjustments.

The New Jersey Department of Education will use a three-year average when determining local fair share, which is the amount of funding a local school district is expected to contribute toward its own budget based on its property wealth and income. Using a multi-year average minimizes year-to-year fluctuations.

To ensure state aid reflects the real needs of districts, the NJDOE will use actual special education enrollment numbers to determine funding levels, instead of the approach used in years past of relying on a statewide average for all districts. State aid allocations are available on .

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By Lindsey Coulter

GARFIELD, N.J. — Construction is officially underway on the new $87.6 million Woodrow Wilson School No. 5 in Garfield. Leaders from the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) joined Garfield School District, State, and local officials last week at a groundbreaking for the new��campus, which will help to reduce overcrowding throughout the district. ��

“As we mark the start of construction for a state-of-the-art school, together we begin a new chapter in the education of Garfield students,” said SDA CEO Manuel Da Silva at the event. “The State’s investment in school infrastructure projects and the work of the SDA have a lasting impact on students in Garfield and throughout New Jersey. Through our shared vision and ongoing collaboration with the school district, city, state, and contracting partners, the Garfield community can begin to envision the school building that will rise on this site in the coming months.” ��

The new school will be an approximately 132,000-square-foot, four-story facility will serve a maximum of 850 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. In addition to general classrooms and kindergarten classrooms, the school will include a vocal music room, an instrumental lesson room, an art room with a kiln, a STEAM lab, a media center, a cafeteria, a multi-purpose room and a gymnasium. As a result of SDA’s commitment to building energy-efficient buildings that consider the surrounding environment, this school will be built to receive LEED Silver certification��from the United States GWoodrow Wilson School No. 5reen Building Council.��

The school is advancing using a design-build approach. The design-build method differs from the traditional design-bid-build approach by allowing the SDA to contract with one firm for both design and construction of a school facilities project. Dobco Inc. was awarded a design-build contract for the design and construction of the new school. As part of the contract, Dobco is working with NK Architects, P.A. on the design. Anser Advisory, part of Accenture, is managing the project. ��

In a message to the district, Tony Lio, Chief Construction Officer for the district, said that the project ‘has been a true collaboration, with the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (NJSDA), city and county officials, Educators, Architects, and myself working together to create a space that will foster maximum learning for our students and staff.” ��

Once complete, the school will be the fourth Capital Project completed by the SDA in Garfield since the inception of the school construction program. The SDA previously invested more than $97 million in completed projects in the Garfield School District. ��

The SDA is the State agency responsible for fully funding and managing the new construction, modernization and renovation of school facilities projects in 31 SDA Districts. Woodrow Wilson School No. 5 is one of multiple active projects in the SDA portfolio, which is valued at approximately $2 billion – including the Capital Project portfolio, emergent projects and Regular Operating District grants.��

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SPRINGFIELD, N.J.—New Brunswick, N.J.-based design firm DIGroupArchitecture is undertaking $32.9 million worth of renovations for the Garden State community of Springfield’s public school district. Funding, which was allocated by a recent bond referendum, will go towards upgrading several schools throughout the township.

According to information released by the design firm, the $33 million will be applied to various infrastructure upgrades, renovations and security updates. These include renovating certain classrooms, music rooms and art rooms. Energy-efficient windows are to be installed to lessen potential waste of resources. Furthermore, DIGroupArchitecture’s plans entail upgrades to the schools’ HVAC and sewer systems, as well as installing new bathroom fixtures. Security upgrades will include updating the current video-monitoring system.

The breadth of the improvements around Springfield are now under design review. While no general contractor has yet been chosen for the work, officials at DIGroupArchitecture, the architect of record, estimate that the entirety of the work will be finished sometime in 2026.

Currently, DIG Associate Kelli Glasgow, AIA, is collaborating with Springfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Rachel Goldberg to iron out some of the details of the project, particularly concerning what specifically can be funded with the money raised already by the township. Glasgow’s prior experience entails several education-related projects for DIG.

“We are honored to be working alongside the district to ensure that the school updates support the success, wellness and safety needs of today’s students, as well as students, teachers, staff and guests who will enter the doors, engage and learn in the classrooms, walk the halls and gather across the common spaces well into the future,” Glasgow said.

In a subsequent statement to �鶹������, Glasgow shared that ongoing equipment delivery issues across the entire construction industry will likely be an issue for the work at the Springfield schools as well.

“The most challenging part of the assignment, which will make great strides to improve the overall educational experience for students and staff, will be the scheduling and coordination of the HVAC upgrades, which account for the largest portion of the project,” said Glasgow.

Though based in New Jersey, DIGroupArchitecture also has offices across the Delaware River in Philadelphia. Their work touches upon many sectors, including healthcare, senior living and education buildings. Among their other school construction work in the Garden State are at Phillipsburg High School, Memorial Elementary School, the Jonathan Dayton High School Media Center and Camden High School.

DIGroupArchitecture, a certified Minority-Owned, Disadvantaged and Small Business Enterprise (MBE/DBE/SBE), was founded in 2006 and follows the credo “Architecture for Change.”

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JERSEY CITY, N.J.—Friends of BelovED Community Charter School 2, Inc. (Friends 2) and Urbahn Architects have completed the new high school facility for the BelovED Community Charter School. Located at 535 Grand Street in Jersey City, the high school will serve 480 students once fully occupied.

According to Urbahn Architects Principal Marty Stein, AIA, “The 53,000-square foot, four-story building will house students in grades 9 to 12. The $12.5 million property features a parking garage at ground level and 20 full-sized classrooms and laboratories, 4 half-classrooms, a gymnasium, a multi-purpose room, and a large cafetorium located on higher floors, accessed by an elevator and two stairwells.”

BelovED Community Charter School, named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of “Beloved Community,” operates K-8 school facilities across the street from the new high school. The school currently serves 1,320 students in grades K-10, and by the beginning of the school year 2022-23 the enrollment will increase to 1,560 students in grades K-12.

In addition to Urbahn Architects, the project team included structural engineer Consulting Engineers Collaborative (CEC); mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineer Partner Engineering and Science; civil engineer Derosier Engineering; and food service design consultant Schiavone Designs.

The small size of the site meant that Urbahn had to be particularly creative in developing and maximizing a functional program. The parcel is within a FEMA-designated flood zone, which added another challenge for the design team.

The parking garage and a loading dock with a 20-foot-wide overhead coiling gate are located at ground level. The first-floor assembly area – which features concrete pavers, an ornamental steel fence, benches, and planters – and the adjoining entrance lobby and security desk, storage and utility areas, and walk-in freezer are all elevated above the FEMA flood zone level.

The second floor of the structure, cantilevered above the parking lot, houses a cafetorium and an 850-square foot kitchen, an office suite, a nurse’s office, classrooms, and two sets of double stairs in addition to the elevator. The kitchen is equipped with three reach-in refrigerators, dry food storage, a commercial stove, two convection ovens, and fiber reinforced panels (FRP) walls. The kitchen floor is quarry tile. A walk-in freezer is located on the ground floor.

The third-floor features classrooms and laboratories, a multi-purpose room, a gymnasium, an art classroom, locker rooms, and a main distribution frame (MDF) room. The fourth floor houses a music room with a stepped stage for rehearsals and performances, classrooms, a special education classroom, and a teacher’s lounge room/break room. The laboratory features a fume hood by Venturi; epoxy resin countertops with sinks and gas, water, and power connections; and cabinetry.

The classrooms feature vinyl composite tile (VCT) flooring with ornamental color patterns, while the gymnasium is equipped with an athletic flooring system. Classrooms offer an abundance of natural light, white boards, audiovisual educational equipment, and flexible furniture systems that allow for easy reconfigurations of the class settings.

The building’s façade features Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), a non-load bearing, exterior wall cladding on steel studs, with Batt insulation. Energy efficiency is also improved by thermally- proficient low emissivity (or low-e) windows with high visible transmittance (VT) properties that allow increased amounts of natural light into the school’s interiors.

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TRENTON, N.J.—The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) recently awarded a contract to Terminal Construction Corporation of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey for construction services for Orange High School in Orange, New Jersey.

The $37 million project involves a 50,000-square-foot, two-story addition to the existing Orange High School, and renovations that include an enclosed circulation link bridge between Orange High School and Orange Preparatory Academy.

An award for construction management services was awarded to Cambridge Construction Management of Clinton, New Jersey. The architect on the project is Kliment Halsband Architects of New York

Originally built 45 years ago in 1974, the school’s new project is slated for completion by September 2021. The school will have the capacity to educate approximately 1,400 students, with a maximum of nearly 1,700.

“This new and renovated state-of-the-art school facility will assist with meeting the district’s vision and goal of providing students with equitable opportunities for college and career readiness,” says Ronald Lee, interim superintendent of the Orange School District.

The initial phase of this project includes a constructability review. Terminal Construction Corporation will review the contract documents (plans and specifications) to identify issues, which would impact the schedule or cost of completion. Following the conclusion of this review process and resolution of all issues, the contractor will be issued a separate notice-to-proceed to begin construction of the school.

Says Manuel Da Silva, SDA interim chief executive officer, “The SDA is committed to the improvement of facilities in our 31 SDA Districts. We are pleased to see this project advance in partnership with the Orange School District and community.”

The SDA is the state agency responsible for fully funding and managing the new construction, modernization and renovation of school facilities projects in 31 SDA districts. Since the program’s inception, the SDA has provided funding for and management oversight of more than 850 completed school facilities projects in SDA districts, in addition to executing approximately 5,400 grants for Regular Operating Districts New Jersey. SDA’s current portfolio of active projects is valued at approximately $2 billion.

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