Wayland High School: News from the State

By Representative Tom Conroy 

March 12, 2007 – In July 2007, after four years, the moratorium on state funding for school building projects will be lifted, and the reformed state funding program called the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will begin accepting applications for new projects.  This presents Wayland with a genuine opportunity to apply for and receive state funding to renovate or rebuild the Wayland High School.  The recent past has proved that state funding is essential to moving this project forward, as Wayland residents have been rightly unwilling to fund an entire overhaul of the high school on their own property-tax laden shoulders. 

“Building and renovating school buildings are expensive projects,“ says Lea Anderson, Chairman of the High School Building Committee, with whom I met recently.  She told me that “when we surveyed Wayland residents in 2005, the majority of respondents felt construction on a high school building project should not proceed until state aid is guaranteed.”  Since that time, Wayland High School has been rated in the top 23% of schools in the most critical condition across Massachusetts, and is one of 154 schools that have already begun the application process.

The MSBA was created in 2004 as an independent public authority.  It replaces the former School Building Assistance Program operated by the Department of Education.  MSBA inherited over $11 billion in outstanding payments for projects authorized under the old SBA program, and is on its way towards paying off this backlog.  It now has a dedicated revenue source going forward - 1 cent out of the 5 cents sales tax. 

Wayland has been patiently waiting to define a high school project that fits within the new MSBA regulations.  The new process defines a partnership between a community and the Commonwealth, where the two work closely through each phase of the process.  MSBA Executive Director Katherine Craven recently said to legislators, “The statute that created the MSBA places tremendous emphasis on planning, due diligence, and prioritization of scarce Authority resources.”

The new process begins with local determination of a problem, not a solution.  Wayland has taken the first step by filing a Statement of Interest (SOI) with the MSBA in August 2006, delineating several structural deficiencies at the High School.  There are 8 criteria for approval:  health and safety, existing severe overcrowding, loss of accreditation, prevention of future severe overcrowding, increasing energy conservation and decreasing energy costs, short-term enrollment growth, replacement of obsolete buildings, and transition from court ordered racial balance districts to walk-to districts.  Wayland’s SOI addresses seven of these eight criteria.

For Wayland, the timing of Phases II through V of the process is unclear, which is one of the reasons that I am meeting with MSBA Director Craven later this month.  What we do know are some important details about the substance of each phase, as described below.

During Phase II, the MSBA would conduct an assessment to validate the conditions described in Wayland’s Statement of Interest.  The MSBA would also provide Wayland with an enrollment projection, which, along with the square footage per student as specified in the regulations, would define the appropriate scope of a building project. 

Phase III would entail collaboration between the MSBA and Wayland on a Feasibility Study, during which several alternative approaches could be explored. 

During Phase IV, Wayland and the MSBA would agree on a solution and determine a project budget and a reimbursement rate.  That way, when a fully-defined project is put forward to Wayland’s town residents for a vote, a specific project and budget will be detailed, with a committed amount of funding from MSBA.

New state funding reimbursement rates will range from 40-80% of an approved project, versus 50-90% under the previous program.  It would be prudent for Wayland to anticipate a reimbursement rate at the lower end of this range.

For Wayland residents, the new MSBA process may seem very different from school building projects under the previous program.  Many of the factors that drive the size and scope of the project, such as enrollment projections and square footage per student, will be decided by the state.  Unlike the past, the MSBA will procure and pay for enrollment projections and facilities and maintenance assessments.  Another significant change is that the state is taking a “Pay as you Build” approach, which means quicker payments and reduced financing costs for the town. 

After July 1, the state could give Wayland the green light to complete Phase I and proceed to Phase II and III later this year.  According to MSBA regulations, projects unable to start because of “local circumstances” will lose their approved status and designated funds will be given to other projects.  With 154 other schools already seeking state funding, it is important that Wayland be poised and ready to proceed, or face lengthy delays.

Tom Conroy can be reached at Rep.ThomasConroy@hou.state.ma.us.
 

Articles in Series:

Bringing Wayland High School in the 21st Century
Wayland High School:  News from the State
What to do about Falling Concrete at Wayland High School?

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