When $27.3 Million Becomes $102.34 Million: What Hoboken’s School Budget Tells Us About Accountability

Sometimes an old newspaper clipping provides more perspective than pages of contemporary budget documents.

I recently came across a 1988 article from The Hudson Dispatch with a headline that immediately caught my attention:

“Pasculli eyes accord with school board.”

The smaller headline above it was even more direct:

“Aim: Cut budgets.”

The article reported that Hoboken Mayor Patrick Pasculli had called a special City Council meeting to discuss a spending agreement with the Hoboken Board of Education. At the time, the school district’s budget was $27.3 million.

Nearly four decades later, Hoboken’s 2026-27 Board of Education budget stands at $102.34 million, with a 23.6% increase in the local tax levy.

Those numbers deserve some historical context.

Adjusting 1988 for Inflation

Simply comparing $27.3 million in 1988 with $102.34 million today would be misleading. A dollar in 1988 obviously purchased considerably more than a dollar does today.

So let's account for inflation.

Using the Consumer Price Index, that $27.3 million 1988 school budget is equivalent to approximately $77.3 million in 2026 dollars. The CPI is the federal government's standard measure of changes in consumer prices. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI information

That produces a much more meaningful comparison:

Hoboken BOE Budget	Amount
1988 actual budget	$27.3 million
1988 budget in 2026 dollars	≈ $77.3 million
2026-27 budget	$102.34 million
Difference after inflation	≈ $25.0 million
Increase above inflation-adjusted 1988 level	≈ 32%

Read that last number again.

Today's Hoboken school budget is approximately $25 million larger than the 1988 budget even after nearly four decades of inflation have already been accounted for.

That is the comparison that should interest taxpayers.

And Then There Is the Tax Levy

The size of the overall budget is only part of the story.

The 2026-27 budget carries a 23.6% increase in the local tax levy. That figure itself represents a reduction from the approximately 27% increase initially proposed.

Reducing the proposed increase was certainly preferable to leaving it at 27%. But a 23.6% increase in a single year remains extraordinary enough to warrant serious public scrutiny.

One can support public education enthusiastically while asking whether an increase of this magnitude is financially sustainable.

Those positions are not contradictory.

I have spent my professional life in education. I have been a classroom teacher, administrator, professor, researcher, and teacher educator. I believe deeply in the importance of strong public schools and in properly supporting the teachers and professionals who work in them.

But support for public education cannot mean that every expenditure is beyond question.

Quite the opposite.

Responsible stewardship of public money is essential to sustaining public confidence in public education.

What Is Particularly Interesting About 1988?

For me, the most fascinating part of the old article isn't actually the $27.3 million figure.

It's the process surrounding it.

Mayor Pasculli was actively involved. The City Council was discussing the school budget. The mayor was trying to develop an agreement between municipal government and the Board of Education.

And Hoboken residents ultimately had something residents today do not ordinarily have:

a direct vote on the annual school budget.

Under the system then in place, voters could approve or reject the school budget. If voters rejected it, municipal government could become directly involved in determining reductions.

That system no longer exists in the same form.

When Hoboken moved its school elections from April to November, the regular annual school budget generally ceased being submitted directly to voters. Current New Jersey law provides a different framework, under which regular school budgets within the applicable statutory requirements generally do not receive a public referendum. New Jersey Department of Education School Finance information

So we should be precise: the Hoboken City Council does not have the same formal authority over the school budget today that municipal government possessed under the old budget-election system.

But that raises another question.

Does Different Authority Require Silence?

I don't think it does.

City Hall and the City Council may have a different legal role today, but they remain the elected representatives of many of the same taxpayers who ultimately pay school taxes.

There is nothing preventing municipal leaders from asking difficult questions.

There is nothing preventing them from convening public discussions.

There is nothing preventing them from examining how a 23.6% tax-levy increase will affect homeowners, renters, businesses, seniors, and families.

There is nothing preventing them from asking the Board of Education to explain publicly how we arrived at a $102.34 million budget, what is driving its growth, what alternatives were considered, and what taxpayers should expect in subsequent years.

The 1988 article reminds us that there was once an expectation that a school budget of significant consequence to taxpayers was a community-wide civic issue, not something existing entirely within the institutional boundaries of the Board of Education.

Perhaps that is the larger lesson worth recovering.

This Should Not Become an Anti-School Argument

I want to be especially clear about this.

This should not become an argument against teachers, students, or public education.

The meaningful questions are much more sophisticated.

What has driven Hoboken's inflation-adjusted school spending upward by approximately $25 million since 1988? How much reflects changes in enrollment? Special education? Salaries and benefits? Facilities? Transportation? Administration? State and federal mandates? Expanded educational programs?

And most importantly:

What measurable educational benefits have accompanied the additional investment?

Those are empirical questions.

They should be answered with data rather than rhetoric.

As someone who has spent decades studying education, I would argue that this is precisely the conversation educators should welcome. If additional public investment produces meaningful improvements in opportunities and outcomes for children, let's document those improvements.

If some expenditures are producing limited educational value, let's be willing to identify those as well.

Accountability isn't the enemy of public education.

Accountability is how public institutions earn the confidence necessary to sustain public investment.

Four Numbers Hoboken Should Remember

Strip away the politics for a moment and consider four numbers:

$27.3 million.
The Hoboken school budget in 1988.

Approximately $77.3 million.
What that 1988 budget represents in 2026 dollars after adjusting for inflation.

$102.34 million.
The 2026-27 Hoboken Board of Education budget.

23.6%.
The increase in the local tax levy.

The first three tell us that today's budget is approximately $25 million, or roughly 32%, above the inflation-adjusted 1988 level.

The fourth tells us something about the immediate burden being placed on today's taxpayers.

Neither statistic, standing alone, proves that the budget is excessive. A school district in 2026 is not identical to a school district in 1988, and a serious analysis must account for changes in enrollment, student needs, mandates, staffing, facilities, programs, revenue sources, and educational expectations.

But the numbers certainly justify asking questions.

Hoboken Deserves the Conversation

There is something almost quaint about that 1988 newspaper headline:

“Aim: Cut budgets.”

But underneath it was a principle that remains relevant.

Government officials understood that public spending deserved public discussion.

The mayor became involved. The City Council became involved. The Board of Education became involved. And voters themselves had a formal role in the process.

Thirty-eight years later, Hoboken residents no longer vote routinely on the annual Board of Education budget.

That makes transparency and public engagement more important, not less.

A $102.34 million school budget deserves careful examination.

A 23.6% increase in the local tax levy deserves careful examination.

And a school budget approximately $25 million above its 1988 inflation-adjusted equivalent deserves an explanation of what Hoboken taxpayers are receiving from that additional investment.

We should demand excellent schools.

We should support excellent teachers.

We should provide Hoboken's children with an outstanding education.

And we should insist that every public institution entrusted with taxpayer dollars demonstrate that those dollars are being spent responsibly and effectively.

Fiscal responsibility and educational excellence are not opposing values.

For a healthy public school system, we should insist on both.

The strongest authoritative evidence I could find is the City of Hoboken's Master Plan. Its “Historical School Enrollments, Hoboken Public Schools” table reports 4,401 students in 1985 and 3,266 in 1991. So my best guess for 1988 would be 3,834 BUT that is an interpolated estimate. 2025-26 enrollment 3803 according to the NJDOE.

Community Engagement for Possability of Building a New School- September 10, 2026 6PM HHS

The Hoboken Board of Education will hold a Community Engagement Meeting on September 10 at 6:00 p.m. focused on the district's new strategic plan. It follows earlier sessions on demographics and the district's Long Range Facilities Plan

The timing deserves attention.

In 2022, Hoboken voters rejected a $241 million referendum ($330+ including interest) for a new high school by roughly two to one. Critics argued that the proposal moved forward without sufficient public involvement. Even the Board's post-election survey showed substantial concern about cost, alternatives, necessity, and the opportunity for public input.

The district has not announced another school referendum. Still, some residents may reasonably wonder whether today's extensive community-engagement process is partly a response to the criticism the Board and administration received in 2022 and whether it could eventually lead to another proposal for a new school.

That makes some questions particularly important:

1. What objective enrollment and capacity data demonstrate that Hoboken actually needs a new school?
2. What would taxpayers pay, including financing, and how does that compare with renovating or expanding existing schools?
3. Will the district publicly evaluate less expensive alternatives before deciding that a new building is the preferred solution?
4. Given that the 2022 referendum was developed with limited public input and was ultimately rejected by voters by roughly a two-to-one margin, what specific commitments will the Board and Superintendent make today to ensure that these community-engagement meetings are genuinely shaping the district’s facilities decisions, rather than being used to build public support for a new-school proposal that has already been substantially decided behind the scenes?
5. “Is ‘we do not need a new school’ an outcome that this community-engagement process is genuinely prepared to consider?”

Community engagement should help shape the decision, not simply build support for a decision already taking shape.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

District Funded Demographic Study - February 2026 - CLICK HERE

July 14, 2026: Meeting Video: https://youtu.be/EwZ0mHgjoJs

Hoboken’s Annual Spaghetti Dinner Returns to the Waterfront

Few things bring a community together quite like a shared meal, and one of Hoboken’s favorite traditions returns this week with the Annual Spaghetti Dinner Block Party along the city’s waterfront.

The dinner will take place on Tuesday, September 8, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. along the waterfront walkway on Sinatra Drive between 1st and 2nd Streets. In the event of rain, the celebration will move to Wednesday, September 9. If you have not gotten tickets already, double-check, as this event sometimes sells out. 

The annual gathering offers residents, families, friends, and visitors an opportunity to enjoy an evening together in one of Hoboken’s most recognizable settings. With views of the Manhattan skyline on one side and a neighborhood-style dinner on the other, it is the kind of event that captures much of what makes Hoboken special.

And, of course, there is plenty of food.

Dinner will feature three types of pasta, salad, meatballs, sausage, eggplant, rolls, and cookies, along with soda and water. Catering will be provided by Antique Loft.

The Hoboken Business Alliance will also sponsor a beer garden hosted by Schmitty’s, offering beer and wine to guests age 21 and over, as well as soda and water. Outside beverages are not permitted at the event.

Hoboken has changed considerably through the years, but community gatherings like the Spaghetti Dinner remain a welcome reminder of the city’s long tradition of neighbors meeting neighbors, sharing food, and enjoying an evening together.

There is something wonderfully simple about a long table, a plate of pasta, and a waterfront filled with familiar faces. For longtime Hoboken residents and newcomers alike, the Annual Spaghetti Dinner is an opportunity to experience the Mile Square City at its most communal.

Hoboken Annual Spaghetti Dinner Block Party
Tuesday, September 8
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Sinatra Drive Waterfront Walkway, between 1st and 2nd Streets
Rain Date: Wednesday, September 9

I Finally Made It to Hoboken (video)

An interesting video about a person who finally made it to Hoboken...a little tongue-in-cheek, funny, critical, and humorous. Take a look: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1207443523938887

Fiore's Named #1 - New Jersey’s 42 best Italian delis, ranked for 2026. A new No. 1 is named!

Fiore's House of Quality in Hoboken has been named the #1 Italian deli in the state of New Jersey as judged by NJ. com. Fiore's is a Hoboken institution serving up authentic Italian-American comfort. Located at 414 Adams St, this local favorite is renowned for its quick bites and generous portions, particularly during the bustling lunch hour. Experience a taste of history and a true Hoboken tradition at Fiore's, where the quality speaks for itself.

Below is the write up. You can read about the other 41 places by following this LINK. 

Fiore’s looks like a vintage deli movie set — brick storefront; tin ceiling; fluorescent lighting; a display case filled with olives, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, and other specialties. A photo of Mother Teresa is wedged between sardine tins.

If I had to take one sandwich to the pearly gates, or my desert island, make it Fiore’s legendary roast beef and mozzarella sandwich. Its origins go back to around 1960, when the deli started offering a special sandwich each day — roast beef, sausage, tuna, Virginia ham. The roast beef and mozzarella became Fiore’s signature sandwich. Note: It’s available Thursdays and Saturdays only.

Pretty much every deli on this list boasts a bigger menu than Fiore’s. But the latter has unsurpassable atmosphere and old-school charm. (PG)

When a Hoboken Storefront Closes, We Lose More Than a Store (Stan's Sports Center 1946–2026)

After 80 years, the retail storefront of Stan’s Sport Center in Hoboken is closing.

Stan’s opened in 1946. Think about that for a moment. Harry Truman was president. World War II had ended only the year before. Hoboken was still very much a working-class waterfront city, filled with longshoremen, factory workers, families living within a few blocks of grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

And somewhere in that Hoboken, Stan’s opened its doors.

WABC Channel 7 News story: https://abc7ny.com/post/stans-sports-center-hoboken-nj-closing-storefront-8-decades-shifts-business-online/19781296/

For the next eight decades, those doors became part of the rhythm of the city.

Generations of Hoboken kids went into Stan’s for baseball gloves, basketballs, uniforms, varsity jackets, sneakers, equipment, and all the other things that seemed so important when you were growing up. Parents went there for their children. Then, years later, some of those same children returned with children of their own.

Stan's has long supplied the Hoboken School District and the many schools and organizations in Hoboken with all the necessary and needed equipment and materials for the safe enjoyment of athletics in Hoboken. 

That is what makes a place like Stan’s different from simply being a store.

It becomes part of the geography of memory.

When you grow up in a place like Hoboken, you remember the businesses almost as much as you remember the streets. They become landmarks in your own personal history. You remember who worked behind the counter. You remember walking there with your friends. You remember buying something you had saved for. You remember the conversations that happened along the way.

And slowly, almost without noticing, those places become part of what you mean when you say “home.”

Hoboken has changed enormously since 1946. Some of those changes have been wonderful. Others have come with a price.

The waterfront changed. The factories disappeared. The demographics changed. Neighborhoods changed. Property values changed dramatically. And, of course, the way we shop changed.

Amazon does not know your Little League coach.

A website does not remember what size uniform your kid wore last season.

An online shopping cart does not ask about your parents, your brother, your team, or how things are going.

That was always part of the experience of the neighborhood store. The transaction was only one part of it. The relationship was the other.

And that is why the closing of a longtime storefront like Stan’s deserves more than a passing acknowledgment.

It represents something much larger happening in cities and towns throughout America. Small, locally owned businesses are being asked to survive in an economic environment that looks almost nothing like the one in which many of them were created. Online shopping, enormous national retailers, changing foot traffic, increasing operating costs, and changing consumer habits have transformed the landscape.

Eventually, even businesses with tremendous loyalty and history have to make difficult decisions.

The good news—and there is important good news here—is that Stan’s Sport Center is not going out of business.

The company is evolving.

Stan’s will continue serving schools, municipalities, athletic programs, teams, and organizations as an authorized team dealer and full-service sporting goods vendor. An 80-year-old Hoboken family business is finding a way to adapt and continue.

That deserves admiration.

There is also a lesson here for all of us.

We often talk about how much we love our local businesses after they disappear.

We post photographs.

We reminisce.

We say how much we miss them.

But the time to appreciate a neighborhood business is while the lights are still on.

Walk through the door.

Buy something.

Have a conversation.

Recommend the place to someone.

Spend a few dollars locally when you have the choice.

Because those choices, multiplied across hundreds or thousands of people, matter.

For 80 years, Stan’s Sport Center was part of Hoboken. Countless kids got their first glove there. Teams ordered uniforms there. Parents bought equipment there. Employees stood behind the counter there. Friends stopped in simply to talk.

That is a remarkable legacy.

There will undoubtedly be another business in that storefront someday. That is what cities do. They change. They reinvent themselves. New memories replace old ones.

But those of us who care about Hoboken should occasionally stop and remember what came before.

Because a city is more than buildings, development projects, restaurants, tax assessments, and real estate.

A city is accumulated memory.

And for 80 years, Stan’s Sport Center was part of ours.

1946–2026.

Thank you, Stan’s.

The storefront may be closing.

But after eight decades in Hoboken, the memories are staying.

Petrosino and Colleagues Receive NSF Funding for New Mathematics App

Very pleased to share some good news from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Our project, “Seeing the World through a Mathematical Lens: A Place-Based Mobile App for Creating Math Walks,” has received an additional NSF supplement to support the next phase of our work and extend the project through May 2027 (Award Number: 2115393; $297,000). The project is led by Dr. Candace Walkington, Principal Investigator, and I am fortunate to serve as a Co-PI alongside a terrific interdisciplinary team.

The work explores how young people and families can encounter mathematics in the places they visit every day—museums, parks, zoos, neighborhoods, and other informal learning environments. Through the MathFinder project, we are investigating how mobile technology, place-based learning, and thoughtfully designed math walks can help learners begin to see mathematics as something that exists all around them.

I’m especially pleased that NSF has provided additional support for this work. Grants like this are very much team efforts, and I’m grateful to Candace, our colleagues, students, community partners, and everyone who has contributed to the project.

More work ahead—and more opportunities to help people see the world through a mathematical lens!

The Teacher Pay Penalty Remained High in 2025

Hoboken 1960's (colorized)

 Teachers earned 25.2% less than  comparable college graduates in 2025, according to a new report with Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). This decades-long teacher pay penalty has taken a heavy toll on public education.

Teacher pay has fallen further and further behind. After accounting for inflation, public school teachers' weekly wages FELL 6.2% over the past three decades, while wages for other college graduates rose 28.8% over the same period.

Click to Enlarge

Teachers were paid less than other college graduates in every state, with relative teacher pay gaps ranging from 10.4% in Rhode Island to 40.7% in Colorado. The teacher pay penalty was at least 25% in 25 states.

Hoboken’s Grand Street Debate: Hearing Councilperson Russo’s View

The debate over Hoboken’s Grand Street bike lane pilot has become one of the most important local issues of the summer. 

The City Council recently voted 7–2 to end the pilot early, while Mayor Emily Jabbour’s administration has said the program will continue through its planned evaluation period.

Councilman Michael Russo, who represents Hoboken’s Third Ward and co-sponsored the resolution to end the pilot, has released a video explaining his concerns and responding to several points made by City Hall.

Regardless of where residents stand on bike lanes, parking, traffic, or street safety, Russo’s comments deserve to be heard as part of the larger community discussion.

The City describes the Grand Street project as a pilot designed to improve safety and mobility while gathering data and public feedback. At the same time, many residents and Council members have raised concerns about how the new design is working in daily life.

Good local government depends on people listening to different views, examining the facts, and participating respectfully.

Watch Councilman Russo’s video and decide for yourself. Please keep making your voice heard.

Councilman Russo’s VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FMmEMRU9y/

Original Administration Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@hobokenemily/video/7675535569484565773

Fox 5 - Hoboken City Council votes to halt Grand Street bike lane pilot early

Hoboken City Council votes to halt Grand Street bike lane pilot early. Fox 5 was in Hoboken--- watch the 4 minute segment below: 

https://www.newsbreak.com/fox-5-new-york-287734255/4838667671790-hoboken-city-council-votes-to-halt-grand-street-bike-lane-pilot-early?s=ws_native

355 mL vs. 25 mL: When Vaccine Rhetoric Collides With Arithmetic

On August 10, 2026, President Donald Trump claimed that a childhood vaccination looks like “the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body.” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made a similar comparison, suggesting that the amount of vaccine administered to children is comparable to the volume of liquid in a can of soda.

That comparison is dramatically misleading.

A standard 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains about 355 milliliters of liquid. By comparison, the total volume of vaccines administered from birth through age 18 is about 16–25 milliliters, depending on the vaccines and formulations received.*

Put another way, 16–25 mL is roughly 3 to 5 teaspoons of liquid spread across nearly two decades, not anything close to a 12-ounce soda poured into a child at one time.

Whatever one’s views about vaccines or vaccination policy, public discussions about children’s health should begin with accurate numbers. The difference between 16–25 mL over 18 years and 355 mL is not a minor detail. It is a difference of roughly 14 to 22 times the volume, even before accounting for the fact that vaccines are administered in small doses over many years rather than all at once.

* Information provided by Dr. Scott a clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a coauthor of "Updated evidence for COVID-19, RSV, and Influenza Vaccines for 2025-2026" in the New England Journal of Medicine.

HOBOKEN SCHOOLS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - PLANNING FOR GROWTH 8/11/26 6:00 PM | Hoboken High School | In Person

Hoboken is once again facing an important question about the future of its public schools: How many students should we be planning for?

Councilwoman Tiffany Fischer recently shared information from a Hoboken Board of Education community engagement meeting that deserves careful attention. According to her account, the district is projecting roughly 1,300 additional students over the next seven to ten years. That would be the equivalent of adding approximately 50 to 60 classrooms to the district.

Those are significant numbers. If they prove accurate, Hoboken will clearly need additional school capacity.

But there is another question we should be asking at the same time:

How confident should we be in those projections?

Projections Are Not Predictions

As an educator and researcher, I believe strongly in using data to make decisions. But I also believe we need to understand what the data can and cannot tell us.

An enrollment projection is not the same thing as a prediction of what will happen.

Projections depend on assumptions. How many housing units will actually be built? What kinds of units will they be? How many will contain families with school-age children? How long will those families remain in Hoboken? How many will choose district schools rather than charter, private, or parochial schools?

Change any of those assumptions and the enrollment estimate changes as well.

That does not make enrollment projections useless. Quite the opposite. They are essential planning tools. But we should treat them as estimates rather than certainties.

The Housing Question Cuts Both Ways

According to Councilwoman Fischer, the district's current projection assumed approximately 3,000 new residential units and did not include the full Rockefeller project or Western Edge. Together, she reports, those developments could add close to another 3,000 housing units.

At first glance, that might suggest that the district's enrollment estimate is too low.

Perhaps.

But the relationship between housing construction and public school enrollment is not necessarily one-to-one. A new apartment does not automatically produce a new public school student. The size, price, location, and type of housing matter. So does the age of the people who move into it.

There is another side to the equation as well: Who leaves Hoboken?

Fischer raises an important point here. Some families may leave as their children grow because they cannot find or afford larger homes. Others may leave because rents rise, recreational opportunities become difficult to access, or the daily challenges of raising a family in a dense city become too great.

That movement matters.

If we count families moving into new developments without carefully estimating families moving out of existing housing, we risk overstating future enrollment. On the other hand, if Hoboken becomes more attractive to families who remain through the middle and high school years, traditional models based on past patterns could underestimate enrollment.

Both possibilities deserve consideration.

We Need More Than One Number

This is why I would like to see Hoboken move away from discussing enrollment as a single number.

Instead of saying, for example, that Hoboken will have 1,300 additional students, I would prefer to see several scenarios:

Low-growth scenario: What happens if housing construction slows, birth rates decline, or more families leave Hoboken as their children get older?

Middle-growth scenario: What happens if recent enrollment and housing patterns continue?

High-growth scenario: What happens if major residential projects are completed, more families remain in Hoboken, and public school participation continues to increase?

For each scenario, the district could show the assumptions behind the estimate.

That would give residents something much more useful than a single projection. It would give us a range of possible futures and allow us to plan for each.

We Should Also Test Our Models

There is another simple question worth asking: How accurate have Hoboken's past enrollment projections been?

This is a basic part of good research.

Take enrollment projections made five or ten years ago and compare them with what actually happened. Were the projections close? Did they consistently underestimate growth? Did they overestimate it? Which assumptions turned out to be correct, and which did not?

This type of "back-testing" would tell us a great deal about how much confidence we should place in today's numbers.

It would also help improve future models.

Healthy skepticism about enrollment projections is not the same as denying enrollment growth. Hoboken has clearly experienced substantial growth in its public schools. The question is not whether we should prepare.

We should.

The harder question is what we should prepare for.

Schools Cannot Be Planned in Isolation

On this point, I strongly agree with Fischer's larger argument. School planning cannot be separated from city planning.

Housing policy affects schools. Development affects schools. Transportation affects schools. Recreation affects whether families remain in town. Affordability affects whether a family with two young children can still live here when those children become teenagers.

A school district can build classrooms, but it cannot control most of those factors.

That means the Board of Education, City Council, mayoral administration, planning officials, developers, and residents need to be looking at the same information and asking many of the same questions.

According to Fischer, the Board has indicated that there is not yet a specific plan for a new school and that discussions are taking place with the administration, property owners, and Council members about possible locations.

Given Hoboken's history with school construction proposals, that discussion should be as open and data-driven as possible.

Before the community is asked to support a particular building, location, size, or price tag, residents should be able to see the assumptions that produced the estimate of how much space is needed.

The Question Isn't Whether to Plan. It's How.

Hoboken would be making a serious mistake if it waited until every classroom was full before addressing future school capacity.

But it would also be a mistake to treat a seven-to-ten-year enrollment projection as established fact.

The responsible position lies somewhere between those two extremes.

Plan early. Preserve possible sites. Examine financing options. Coordinate school planning with development decisions. Update enrollment estimates regularly. And make the underlying data available to the public.

Most importantly, show us the assumptions.

If the district believes 1,300 additional students are coming, residents should be able to understand how that number was calculated, what would cause it to rise or fall, and how well similar projections have performed in the past.

That is not opposition to school planning.

It is what good school planning looks like.