Voters to rule on school rehab funding

$30m plan goes to Town Meeting

By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent, 8/21/2003

Burlington Town Meeting next month will consider whether the town should borrow $30 million to refurbish and expand the Marshall Simonds Middle School and the Memorial Elementary school.

Approval at the Sept. 8 Town Meeting would be contingent on voters' approval of a debt exclusion at a special election that would be held soon afterward. A debt exclusion allows borrowing to occur outside the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2, a state law that limits annual increases in property taxes.

The School Committee voted unanimously on July 22 to sponsor the warrant article, following the recommendation of a 22-member study panel. The $30 million would cover $17.5 million in construction money for the already designed middle school project, $11.5 million in design and construction for the elementary school project, and $1 million for contingencies. Passage of the debt exclusion would add $150 to the average annual tax bill of a homeowner for the 20-year life of the loan.

Located on the opposite sides of Winn Street, the middle school, built in 1962, and the elementary school, built in 1952, are the oldest of the town's six schools.

The projects involve overhauls of the two schools, including replacement of mechanical systems, according to Craig Robinson, director of finance and operations for Burlington's 3,489-student school system.

A 40,000-square-foot addition would expand the 122,000-square-foot middle school, resulting in a net gain of 12 classrooms. An addition of a yet-to-be-determined size would be built at the elementary school, with a net gain of six classrooms.

School Committee Chairman Thomas F. Murphy said both schools "are at the point where they need attention from the physical plant standpoint." He said the projects can also "alleviate even in the short term the overcrowding" at the elementary school and "in the long term any possible overcrowding at the middle school."

Murphy said that low interest rates and the sluggish construction industry make this a good time for the town to undertake the projects.

But a local group, Citizens On Responsible Education, also called CORE, is preparing to oppose the Town Meeting and ballot requests, arguing that school officials have not made a case for the size of the projects proposed.

"It's not that we're against education. But because of funding cuts and the way the economy is, we don't want to see funds spent foolishly, and we've seen that happen in the past," said Paul LeClair, one of three CORE members who served on the study panel. The three cast the only votes against the panel's recommendation.

The fall votes mark the latest effort by the School Committee to address the town's school building needs based on a master plan developed by the study committee about 15 months ago. In addition to the renovation and expansion of the middle school and Memorial School, that plan, then estimated at $45 million, called for conversion of the former Wildwood School to a kindergarten center.

In May 2002, Town Meeting rejected a proposal to borrow $11.5 million to build the kindergarten center.

This past spring, the School Committee planned to seek Town Meeting approval and a debt exclusion vote for the middle school project. But the committee withdrew the proposal after state officials in late April announced a moratorium on new applications for state reimbursement of local school building projects.

Following that decision, the School Committee reconvened the study panel and added six new members, including three representatives of CORE, which had opposed the middle school project.

Robinson, who served on the study panel, said the group decided that even without state funding, the town should move ahead with the middle school project because of the need and the favorable market conditions.

He said the group concluded it made sense to move ahead with the Memorial School project for similar reasons and because it was a more conservative and less controversial approach to addressing space needs in the elementary schools than the kindergarten proposal. He said the latter project has been shelved, but that reuse of the Wildwood School building remains an option if need arises for the space.

But CORE members say the study panel rushed through its recommendations without taking the time to fully analyze the town's options or to adequately back up its proposals.

CORE Chairman John Cormier, an study panel member, said the group based its recommendations on a consultant's enrollment projections that were inflated. The consultant had predicted in 1999 the town would see an increase of about 300 students over the next decade. Cormier said his own analysis shows the increase will be about half that.

"What had us extremely frustrated is that they had not done their homework," he said of the majority of the panel. "They wanted to push something through."

Murphy conceded that Cormier "may well be right" with his enrollment figures. But he said, even if he is, six additional classrooms would still be needed at the Memorial School, which, he said, is already overcrowded. Murphy said if CORE estimates are correct, the middle school may not need all of the 12 new classrooms proposed. But he said the cost of redesigning and delaying that project would largely wipe out what savings might come from scaling back the project.

Murphy dismissed the suggestion that the process was rushed, noting that the study panel had been meeting for several years on the overall school building issues.

"We had a lot of background information available," he said. "It was just a question of trying to come up with a plan."