High school plan gets early OK

Wellesley officials won tentative state approval last week to build a new high school after scaling back their original $159 million proposal.

Pending approval by the full Massachusetts School Building Authority, next scheduled to meet on Aug. 8, the deal clears the way for Wellesley to receive state funding equal to at least 40 percent of the project's eligible costs, which the building authority and town officials agreed to limit to $110 million.

In an interview with the Globe, Timothy Cahill, state treasurer, who chairs the authority, praised Wellesley for scaling back its project, a sharp departure from his previous criticism of the town's plans to replace the current high school, built in 1938.

Earlier this year, Cahill lambasted Wellesley's original proposal, along with what he called the "badly managed" new high school project in Newton where costs have jumped from $141 million in January 2007 to $197 million this past April.

In a direct reference to the original Wellesley plan, Cahill said the building authority, which will manage the disbursement of $2.5 billion in state reimbursements for school projects over the next five years, is "not going to be spending $160 million or financing half of that for any of our communities."

Last week, however, Cahill praised town officials for their cooperation, saying, "we don't believe Wellesley is an outlier any more."

The new proposal, which Wellesley is expected to present to the full school building authority at its August meeting, also calls for a 15 percent reduction in the size of the proposed school - from the original plan's 327,000 square feet to a negotiated maximum of 280,000.

Katherine Craven, the authority's executive director, said the exact percentage of state reimbursement would be determined later, based on how well Wellesley complies with cost-saving measures. State guidelines call for a minimum 40 percent reimbursement.

Both Cahill and Tom Goemaat, a commercial contractor who sits on the town's School Building Committee, stated last week their belief that the new, scaled-back proposal can be built for between $100 million and $110 million. Under an earlier plan, town officials had hoped to open the new high school in 2014.

If the state school building authority approves the scaled-back proposal in August, the town has the go-ahead to prepare preliminary designs. Goemaat said the town will also have to put together a conceptual budget by Labor Day, hold a Special Town Meeting in the fall, and put a debt exclusion before voters by December.

At Cahill's behest, the town examined cost-saving measures incorporated into the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, opened in 2005, a model that he said was built for $49 million. Cahill said the school could be built for $69 million today. Cahill, who announced this week a program to offer several different models communities can follow for school projects, pointed to Whitman-Hanson as one example that includes concepts Wellesley can follow. But, he said, Whitman-Hanson could not serve as an exact model for Wellesley, as it would not fit the town's lot size or serve its student enrollment, so the state is willing to consider a scaled-back version of the town's original concept. However, the town did agree to incorporate into its design a number of cost-saving features, including the use of standard-sized windows and less-expensive materials in less-traveled areas, both emulating Whitman-Hanson.

Wellesley Superintendent of Schools Bella Wong noted the new proposal will mean eliminating some hoped-for features in the new school, including an indoor track and a designated area for students to congregate when not in class. It will also mean reducing the auditorium seating from 800 to 600, and reducing the size of classrooms below the minimum guideline established by the school building authority itself.

State Representative Alice Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat, helped facilitate meetings between town officials and Cahill after the treasurer criticized Wellesley's original plan.

Building authority officials then proposed that the town look at renovating and adding onto its existing building - an option the town had studied and found to be more expensive.

But Cahill stuck by his guns, and following several meetings between town and state officials, both sides agreed upon a new building with a smaller size and price tag.

Peisch said town officials believe the scaled-back proposal still "meets the needs of the community."

"This is the result of a lot of discussions over the past several weeks," said Peisch. "And I think this is exactly what the Legislature envisioned when it created the MSBA four years ago; working together."

Peisch applauded Cahill for being very involved in the discussions and committed to making this work for Wellesley.

Wellesley officials working on the high school project have been meeting almost every night for the past two weeks, scrambling to respond to Cahill's concerns in time to get on the building authority's August agenda.

At a public hearing Tuesday night, Goemaat said that "every month [of delay] costs approximately half a million dollars." He and others urged the town move expeditiously to win the green light from the building authority.

If the state does agree to fund 40 percent of $110 million - or $44 million - the town will still need to raise $66 million plus additional amounts for costs that the state funding will not cover.

"I think we have a very reasonable and responsible project," said Peisch, "and one that is not overly burdensome to the taxpayer."