Big-ticket schools prompt a scolding

Cahill says state will impose limit if localities don't

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill complained yesterday that some Massachusetts communities are embarking on excessive, McMansion school construction projects that neither the towns nor the state can afford.

With taxpayer outrage already evident over Newton's proposed $197.5 million high school, Cahill expressed concern about a project in neighboring Wellesley, which is planning a $159 million school.

"I'm a big believer in local control, but if no one is going to control it at the local level, that's what we're here for," Cahill said in an interview. "There is no blank check for this school or any that would come after it."

Cahill called on local communities and their school committees to keep the cost of projects reasonable or risk losing millions of dollars in reimbursements from the state School Building Authority, which he chairs. The authority pays 40 percent to 80 percent of eligible expenses of a project, depending on the wealth of the town and other factors.

The authority is considering dozens of proposals from around the state, amid rising construction costs. On Tuesday, Newton voters rejected a proposed property tax override, in part because of anxiety over cost overruns on its planned high school. In Quincy, the cost of a new high school has jumped from some $80 million to $125 million.

The state has capped funding for those projects, but the burden has been placed on local taxpayers who, Cahill argued, should not have to shoulder the cost of schools that go beyond their academic purpose, with theaters, swimming pools, planetariums, and atriums.

"We'll give you a gymnasium, we'll give you an auditorium, but we will not give you a fine arts academy. We will not give you a sports academy," he said. "Just because a community wants it doesn't mean they're going to get the money."

The School Building Authority is looking at tightening design standards to give communities a prototype for what it considers reasonable for new schools being submitted for state funding assistance. The standards may allow communities to pay for additional features on their own, by local vote or with grants or donations.

But Cahill also said that school communities should not be making decisions for a community. He argued that even the wealthiest towns have residents who cannot afford the tax increases needed to fund such projects.

The treasurer's comments foreshadowed a speech he is scheduled to make today during a Government Affairs Forum hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He will call on local and state governments to rein in spending for capital projects during tough economic times, when taxpayers are overburdened.

Cahill said the tax override that Newton voters rejected Tuesday was a case in point. The $12 million override was not related to the costs of the new school, which jumped $56 million in just over a year. Still, he said, the rejection was a sign of voter frustration with the city's fiscal management.

Now, the city could face the prospect of laying off teachers.

"The teachers are far more important than bricks and mortar," Cahill said.

Katherine Craven, executive director of the School Building Authority, said her agency has been working with school districts to determine the appropriate course for repairing crumbling schools or rebuilding.

A school in Norwood that would house 1,000 students is expected to cost $80 million, she said. The authority approved that project yesterday.

In Wellesley last week, a town committee approved a new high school project that would cost an estimated $159 million and take more than three years to complete. Wellesley had hoped to place the project on the building authority's agenda yesterday, but it was not considered.

Katherine Babson, a Wellesley selectwoman who heads the town's Permanent Building Committee, said that the projected cost is only preliminary and that the school is still in its conceptual stage. She said her group wants to meet with the state to discuss figures. "Maybe we used the wrong examples," she said.

But she also said that the figure is based on a projected 1,600-student enrollment and that it accounts for inflation in construction costs. The project is not expected to begin until at least 2010.

"Our town is completely committed to controlled costs," she said. "And we have every intention . . . to build a school that's a reasonable and appropriate investment for both our town and the Commonwealth's investment in the project."

Correction: Because of a reporting error, the wrong title was given for Wellesley Selectwoman Katherine Babson in a story yesterday about the Wellesley High School project. She is chairwoman of the School Building Committee.