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June 17, 2006 -
Every town will have an equal chance to get state school construction aid when the state lifts its five-year moratorium on new projects next year, a high-ranking state official said yesterday.
"The way we want this to work is we want everybody to have a fair shot at getting a project approved in 2007," said Katherine Craven, the executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
Craven visited Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School for a public hearing yesterday as part of her five-stop state tour, to field questions from local officials on proposed regulations that will overhaul how the state helps pay to renovate or build new schools.
Starting in July 2007, the School Building Authority will have $500 million to spend on new school projects, with a direct funding source from 20 percent of the state sales tax. The new system will free up $2.7 billion for projects by fiscal 2012, and will keep towns from waiting 20 or 30 years for reimbursement.
Schools that are overcrowded or which put the health and safety of its students at risk will get top priority next year, Craven said, and communities will be eligible for between 40 and 80 percent reimbursement, based on a sliding scale.
In the end, Craven said the new regulations will bring transparency and accountability to a once-flawed system. However, to those waiting to apply for a new school, the transparency may be blunt, she cautioned.
"Some projects will be rejected early on in the process, which will be a startling disappointment for some people," she said. "But it’s better than keeping up false hope."
Craven also warned towns not to spend too much money on projects before they are approved, since there is no guarantee her agency will agree with a project’s scope.
While he applauded the efforts of Craven’s office, state Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said he was unsure if towns would be able to meet the agency’s time line for applications, and cautioned against using the complex regulations to effectively add a sixth year to the five-year moratorium.
Moore also had problems with Craven’s insistence that towns wait for approvals before spending money on new projects. Those rules could hurt a town such as Uxbridge, which has already invested $2 million on architectural plans for a new high school, he said.
"If they have to start all over again, they have to spend another $2 million, or thereabout, to continue the project," Moore said.
Uxbridge selectmen Chairwoman Julie Woods said her town is aware that it may face that problem as it looks to buy a site for the new high school.
"You certainly repeat ’control your expectations,’" Woods told Craven. "But in a community like mine, which hopes to build a new high school, how do you balance controlling your expectations?"
Following the meeting, Uxbridge Superintendent Daniel Stefanilo said he believes waiting to buy a site for the high school would be a mistake.
"Uxbridge is still growing. It doesn’t have another space to build for its future schools," he said.
Meanwhile, Craven said most of the concerns will be addressed by a local issues committee before the regulations are made official next month.
Milford School Committee Chairman Pacifico "Skip" DeCapua Jr. said he walked away from the session feeling informed about the agency’s expectations. A checklist that guides a community through the process was particularly helpful, he said.
"This checklist helps us better understand where we’re going," DeCapua said.
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