TRENTON -- New Jersey's education commissioner has nullified two voter referendums in Freehold Borough and ordered a $32 million school expansion to alleviate overcrowding in a district with a growing number of children from families of unauthorized immigrants.

Education Commissioner David Hespe on Thursday agreed with the opinion of an administrative law judge, who found that the improvements are needed, despite opposition from local residents.

To ease the impact on Freehold residents, the state will pay for 85 percent of the expansion costs with local taxpayers covering the remaining 15 percent.

"The Commissioner emphasizes that this decision to authorize the issuance of bonds outside of a referendum represents an extraordinary remedy," Hespe wrote in his ruling.

Without the expansion, students wouldn't have access to the thorough and efficient education they are entitled to under the state's constitution, Hespe wrote.

Currently, an elementary school library is converted into seven makeshift classrooms, students are crammed into schools built to serve far fewer students and the stages at the front of one school's gym and cafeteria are used as stopgap instructional spaces.

The $32.9 million expansion will lead to 17 new full-size classrooms, five small-group classrooms, a gymnasium dedicated solely to Park Avenue Elementary School, a library at Park Avenue Elementary School and a cafeteria at Freehold Learning Center.

The ruling comes 15 years after the district first passed its functional capacity and after local residents twice rejected proposed expansions in bitter voter referendums that divided the community.

"We thank the Commissioner for this favorable ruling which will allow us to move forward and address our overcrowding," district Superintendent Rocco Tomazic said. "The needs of the resident students of Freehold Borough have been placed at the forefront."

Emblematic of communities across the country with large immigrant populations, the K-8 district put the school expansion before voters, arguing that it is overwhelmed by a decades-long influx of new students, many of whom are the children of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Residents who rejected the bond in the two referendums said overturning the vote would be misguided and undemocratic. Had voters approved the expansion, the average homeowner would have faced a $278 property tax increase.

The decision marks the third time since 2003 that the state has overruled a town's denial of a school expansion.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.