Loans offered for school projects

More than 50 school construction projects slated to cost more than the state agreed to pay may apply for $150 million in loans if they are willing to sacrifice extras to save money, School Building Authority officials said yesterday.

The loan program, led by Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, outraged city and town officials, who say the state is reneging on a promise to cover their costs. The School Building Authority was created in 2004 to control construction spending and pay for more than 400 projects on a waiting list. The projects must be paid off by 2007, when a statewide freeze on new school construction will be lifted.

Katherine P. Craven, the authority's executive director, said the state agreed last summer to pay $1.4 billion more than it had intended for projects on the wait list, driving the total cost to $5.5 billion.

But for more than 50 projects, that money still wasn't enough to help them finish construction, she said, and those projects will have to apply for a loan. To qualify, schools must have started construction between 2005 and 2007, explain why they are over budget, and find ways to cut costs. The 30-year loans would be granted at 2 percent interest, less than half the current rate.

Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said the state is not sufficiently covering inflation. And he expressed outrage that the authority is now reviewing construction projects that had been approved by the Department of Education, which ran the school building program before the authority took over.

''They should not hold communities hostage by saying they're not going to honor their past commitments," he said.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville said he cannot alter the Albert F. Argenziano School, which was to break ground yesterday. The school is $9.2 million over budget because of the soaring cost of construction materials, he said.

''This is just a back-door way for the treasurer to walk away from his commitment to cities and towns," Curtatone said.

''Do we want to cut windows out of classrooms? Should I cut out the gym?"

But state officials say the Argenziano school followed a troubling statewide trend that led to schools larger than state regulations dictated, driving up costs. The Argenziano School provides 183 square feet per student; state rules call for 115 to 135 square feet per student.

State officials said they have the right to review school blueprints.

''We're not just going to be giving this money out to those who refuse to rein in their programs," Cahill said.

At least one school project on the list, at Worcester's North High School, has already sliced $9 million from its budget by making changes such as scrapping a planned greenhouse and reducing the planned size of the school auditorium and gym.

''It would be nice if kids had a greenhouse if they were studying botany and biology," said James Caradonio, Worcester's school superintendent.

''But we certainly didn't need to do it."