Flaws in SCC put damper on projects
BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer

EDISON — A top school official isn’t happy with the troubled state Schools Construction Corp. (SCC).

The funding formula for the SCC has always been skewed, said schools Business Administrator Daniel Michaud.

State aid to poor districts is set to keep pace with the high-income districts, and the middle-income districts are left with too little help, he said.

That means middle-income districts pay more for a project, while Abbott districts’ construction is funded 100 percent by the SCC, Michaud said.

And a recent state probe to learn if contractors overcharged for construction work hasn’t helped, he said.

The SCC sponsored various school building projects with $8.6 billion in funds. It was part of the state’s Educational Facilities Construction and Finance Act.

Because of the state probe, middle-income districts, which got 40 percent funding for eligible projects, will soon get nothing, Michaud said.

But the schools that got most of SCC funds were poor districts, referred to Abbott districts. And Michaud thinks it’s unfair to punish districts that didn’t have as much involvement with the SCC.

“The Abbott districts got $6.2 billion of the $8.6 billion,” Michaud said. “There are about 30 Abbott districts compared to the 611 in the entire state. By order of the Supreme Court, those poorer districts have to be afforded the same opportunities as others.”

The SCC is responsible for who gets those contracts in the Abbott districts and manages the projects as well, he said.

“The SCC is being investigated for gross overruns of cost,” Michaud said. “But the SCC is the agency managing Abbott projects, not those of middle-income districts.”

Middle-income districts, like Edison manage and bid their own projects.

“We feel it has been much more manageable for taxpayers that way,” Michaud said. “Abbott districts are completely under the control of the SCC and its actions are proving to be unmanageable. We do our projects and construction management in-house and the numbers are much more reasonable.”

But construction, materials and labor costs continue to skyrocket, he said.

The district plans to go out for a $51,064,589 referendum question in September, $11,593,206 of which will be funded by the last of the SCC funds.

Where the SCC funds 40 percent of renovation projects outright, any new construction is funded on a square-foot basis. And its calculation of costs is way below the actual cost mark, Michaud said.