East Ramapo eyes bond in '$200M range' to fix buildings. Will voters back it?

MONSEY − With school starting Thursday, the finishing touches were being made this week on buildings throughout the East Ramapo school district. At Grandview, a K-3 elementary school, the smell of fresh paint lingered Tuesday as walls were spiffed up to match new floors throughout classrooms, halls and the cafeteria. A newly replaced gym floor remained off limits for the week as it set.

The work was part of a massive project at all schools, funded by $90 million the district set aside for repairs from its pot of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding doled out during the pandemic.

But that record amount of federal investment won't be near enough to get the district's schools in shape. A recent state-mandated Building Conditions Survey failed every school in the district, finding many areas "unsatisfactory."

While some of the problems outlined in the building survey are being addressed during the $90 million ARPA overhaul, many aren't even touched by the project.

East Ramapo: All schools fail state-mandated building survey; fixes could cost $500M

After the building condition survey drew statewide attention to the district's ongoing infrastructure failings, district leaders announced they would hammer out a bond proposal to cover the work not touched by the ongoing ARPA project.

The estimated bond price tag? "In the $200 million range," Superintendent Clarence Ellis said during a recent interview.

The challenge: low bond rating, reticent voters

Ellis said a task force of community members will be developed to plan and push for the bond's passage. He also said district officials will meet in the next weeks with financiers to figure out how a bond would be structured.

"We will continue being transparent," Ellis said. "It will take a constellation of efforts to get this done."

Many factors will make such a big ask challenging. Not the least of which is Moody’s Investors Service' decision last month to change East Ramapo's outlook on certain borrowing to “negative.” The bond rating remained the same, at Baa3, one step above junk status. Ellis called that news "problematic."

But the clearest challenge: Getting voters to support a bond that property owners have to pay back.

After all, the district couldn't pass a 2023-2024 budget plan with a 1.99% property tax levy increase. Voters approved a second budget in June only after the plan erased any tax levy increase.

That was accomplished by cutting out $3 million worth of Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant playground repairs, another example of pushing off repairs to save immediate costs.

A budget rejection at the polls is hardly an anomaly in East Ramapo: The district has operated under contingency budgets because of failed budget plans more than any other in the state during the tax-cap era.

Who will support bond?

The hallmark of East Ramapo for more than a decade has been its divisions.

Some 10,500 students attend the public schools, mostly children of color, many of them poor. The public schools are gaining new students, especially immigrant students. Last year, the district launched a Newcomers Academy, which offers supports for children who have undergone often harrowing journeys here, may have inconsistent past education and have limited English.

Another 35,000 kids who live within the district go to private schools, mostly yeshivas that serve the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community. This population, too, is growing.

Most children who reside in the district, whether enrolled in public or private schools, are considered economically disadvantaged, according to federal and state guidelines.

The majority of school board members have long represented constituencies primarily from the private-school community. Those wards often vote down budget plans. Meanwhile, wards with public-school populations often have low voter turnout. Public-school advocates point out that a growing number of parents who send their kids to East Ramapo schools cannot vote in school elections because they don't have U.S. citizenship.

Newcomers Academy: East Ramapo launches program at special campus as influx of English learners squeezes schools

So the big question: How do district leaders expect to win public support for a $200 million bond when it can't win community backing for $3 million in a budget to make repairs?

"We need greater support from the community," Ellis said, including from "influential community members."

The school board makes the final decision about the amount of any bond or other proposal that would go before voters.

What remains to be done, what's accomplished

So far, $53.9 million of the $90 million set aside for building repairs has been spent or committed, Ellis said.

That leaves $23.1 million to be spent by the Sept. 30, 2024 deadline. Any ARPA money not spent is lost. (The total spent on repairs doesn't add up to $90 million because of financing and other costs.)

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Ellis said projects are on track and he believes East Ramapo will be able to use all the funding.

The $90 million has covered crisis projects, including mold and asbestos abatement at Spring Valley High that closed the school building for months in the 2021-2022 school year and put students back in remote learning.

The ARPA funding also paid for kitchen renovations, including a state-mandated replacement of kitchen exhaust hoods that weren't providing adequate ventilation. While the kitchens were banned from making hot food, parents and students complained about the quality of food brought in for kids. As of Thursday's school opening, all kitchens were expected to be up and running.

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It's also covering long-delayed projects, like the upcoming replacement of lead-laden water fixtures that were turned off for the past seven years. In 2016, water sources in school districts statewide underwent lead testing in the wake of Flint, Michigan's water scandal. Many districts found problematic fixtures, which were often replaced within weeks. East Ramapo blocked off fountains and provided bottled water since its fall 2016 testing.

Ellis said the estimated $200 million bond would help with "what's left." That includes window and door replacement; some remaining roofing replacement needs; and mechanical, heating and air systems and boilers.

"It's a lot of wear and tear over the years," said Ellis, who joined the district in July 2021. Most buildings are from the same era, the 1970s, when East Ramapo was a top academic district in the county and growing. Maintenance could not be kept up in the last couple decades of tight budgets.

Ellis likened the costly repairs to what happens when a homeowner doesn't maintain the house: "Pay now or pay later."

Nancy Cutler covers People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her on X (Twitter), Instagram and Threads at @nancyrockland.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo schools seek repairs bond after failed survey, budget cuts