Wednesday: Town Meeting on Sandy Hook School Project

The town will decide Wednesday night whether to accept $750,000 from the State of Connecticut for work on what will, officials hope, someday become the new Sandy Hook Elementary School. A town meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Newtown Municipal Center to consider and act on the resolution.

The $750,000 comes as part of a $50 million grant promised by the State of Connecticut to rebuild the school. Town officials have told Patch and other outlets it's necessary to "expedite" the process, and that even a slight delay could threaten their goal of returning students to Sandy Hook on schedule.

"We're on a very tight construction schedule in the hopes we'll have the school ready for use by the 2016 school year," First Selectman Pat Llodra told Patch last week. "All this preparatory work -- all the engineering and design -- has to keep going, or it's time we'll lose. And to lose four months has a substantial impact."

(Read more from Patch on Llodra's concerns about what a failure to approve funding could mean for the town.)

Officials have stressed the state-based nature of the funding means Newtown residents will not pay directly for the school -- or, at least, no more than other Connecticut residents. Amounts over $500,000 must be approved by town meeting, according to Newtown's charter; amounts over $10 million require a town referendum. (A referendum on the $50 million, expected for the fall, has not been scheduled yet.)

Another measure at the same town meeting will consider a $500,000 appropriation for artificial turf replacement on the field at Treadwell Park, paid for by the Parks and Recreation department's surcharge fund.

For more information on the Sandy Hook School project, see the Q&A released by the town.