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Princeton school board will not receive additional funding from university

By Philip Sean Curran
Staff Writer

The Princeton school district was turned down in its bid to convince Princeton University to provide the school system with additional money beyond what it pays in property taxes, said a school official this week.

Board member Dafna Kendal said on Nov. 27 that the district has appealed to academic nonprofits in town whose employees send their children to the public schools. She has led that effort as the head of a committee looking for alternative revenue sources.

Kendal said representatives for the district and the university had “several meetings,” to discuss ways Nassau Hall could “collaborate” with the district to support students from low-income families.

“We also spoke several times and provided the university with several referendum projects, of varying amounts, which the district hoped the university would participate in,” she said.

Kendal said the university is not willing to contribute more than what it pays in taxes on properties that it leaves on the tax rolls, even though they otherwise would be tax-exempt.

In February, Nassau Hall said it makes “about $5.8 million in voluntary tax payments for properties that are eligible for exemption from property taxes,” like faculty housing.

Yet Kendal noted that Nassau Hall also provides the municipality with an annual voluntary financial contribution, “of which this school district does not get anything.”

In 2014, the town and  Princeton University reached a seven-year-deal for Nassau Hall to contribute around $22 million for the life of the agreement, not including other financial considerations that were part of the deal.

In an interview after the meeting, Kendal said the district had given the university a list of referendum projects that it was hoping to get support for, but the request was denied.

She said that during one of the meetings the two sides had earlier this year, the university had floated the idea of taking the properties, now on the tax rolls, off the rolls and writing the district an annual check for what it otherwise would pay in school taxes, approximately $2.5 million. The contribution would increase by 4 percent each year, she said.

Kendal said she was comfortable sharing those details since members of the public had became aware of what was discussed and raised the issues with her.

“Honestly, I think they’re frustrated that it’s not clear what they’re contributing to the schools,” Kendal said of Nassau Hall.
“I’d say maybe they’re frustrated that people don’t recognize how much financially they contribute,” said fellow board member Bill Hare, who participated in talks with the college.

“As we indicated to school officials, it would be premature for the University to consider a financial commitment toward any capital projects until the referendum process is complete and the projects list is finalized,” Princeton University’s spokesman Michael E. Hotchkiss said in an email on Nov. 28.

”For decades, we have made generous voluntary annual contributions to the district by voluntarily leaving non-dormitory graduate student housing on the tax rolls. If there was an interest on the part of the district in structuring this contribution differently, we would be open to that conversation.”

In October, Princeton announced its endowment stood at $25.9 billion, fueled by a “14.2-percent investment gain” that saw the fund grow by roughly $2.1 billion. But Kendal said that to her, the issue is not that a wealthy institution has an obligation to do more to support its host community.

Rather, she wants Nassau Hall to do as the Princeton Theological Seminary and the Institute for Advanced Study—two tax-exempt institutions that have property on the tax rolls yet make voluntary contributions to the school district.

“So all we’re seeking is the same thing from the university,” Kendal said.

Earlier during the school board meeting, Kendal said the Princeton Theological Seminary had agreed to increase the amount it provides to $90,000, and the Institute for Advanced Study had agreed to contribute $100,000 a year for five years. She said the district was turned down by the Hun School.

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