Difficulty passing referenda to authorize school bonds necessary for important school capital purposes prompted New Jersey to enact legislation to authorize a school district to acquire a site and school building by lease purchase agreement. Advantages, disadvantages, and voter attitude are discussed. (MLF)

An annual school bond survey for New Jersey reveals that while the state's voters had approved 60 percent of the school bond issues in 1998, the communities clearly could not meet the state's multi- billion dollar construction needs on their own. Further, communities with high property taxes had fewer bond elections and approved less of them than…

A 1999 annual school construction survey for New Jersey reveals that the state's voters approved 71.3 percent of the school construction elections, more than the previous year's approval rate of 60 percent. Construction costs also influenced regional approval rates which varied from 59.5 percent in the north to 89.3 percent in the south. Despite…