Treasurer wants limit to designs for schools

Cahill seeks to pare rising building costs

Treasurer Tim Cahill is moving to create a model school program, which he said help rein in the escalating costs of school building projects across the state. (DAVID L.RYAN/GLOBE STAFF)

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, trying to head off what he calls "Taj Mahal" high schools, said yesterday that he wants cities and towns to begin using off-the-shelf building designs that could cut school-project costs by 30 percent.

The goal, Cahill said, is to shave tens of millions of dollars from the cost of building new schools, which have reached as high as $197.5 million for the new Newton North High School, a lightning rod of discontent over the escalating price tags for such projects.

"I'm trying to think like a taxpayer," Cahill, who oversees the state School Building Authority, said in an interview with the Globe, adding later that communities are putting together a "wish list of what we want, not what we need or what we can afford."

Building prototype schools is popular in other parts of the country, particularly in fast-growing Florida and the Southwest. It is viewed as a quick, less expensive way to put up schools, while providing reassurance that the design has been well tested.

As chairman of the School Building Authority, Cahill has the power to create what he is calling a model school program, which has been sought for the last five years by Inspector General Gregory Sullivan. Sullivan said the Legislature gave Cahill the power when it set up the authority, which has $2.5 billion to spend on school construction.

Cahill said that towns that have suitable sites and refuse to use the cheaper designs might not receive state funding or would be told they can renovate their school but not build a new one.

But some architects and school leaders question whether New England's rolling hillsides, marked by such construction obstacles as wetlands and rock outcroppings, can ever be conducive to a one-size-fits-all approach.

"In Massachusetts, there are no prototypical sites or prototypical communities," said George Metzger, a principal with HMFH Architects in Cambridge, arguing that most designs would have to be substantially modified to fit a site. "I'm skeptical it would save any money, and we could lose the character of our community-based school systems."

Sullivan acknowledged that only about 50 percent of sites might be compatible, but he said any savings are worth pursuing in an age of school construction cost overruns.

"I consider it to be one of the most significant financial reforms in Massachusetts over the last 25 years," Sullivan said. "It could save hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade."

In recent months, Cahill has stepped up his criticism of the project in Newton, where costs have risen from $104 million to $197.5 million, and planned projects in other towns. He disclosed the model school program in a previously arranged interview that took place on a day he continued to clash with Governor Deval Patrick's administration over its proposed bailout of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

The program would be designed for high schools with 900 to 1,300 students, he said, and would work best on construction sites that do not have problematic wetlands, ledge, or environmental contamination, all factors that can drive up construction costs.

The designs would be based on high schools built over the last 10 years. The buildings would be between 170,000 and 240,000 square feet, depending on enrollment, and would include a gymnasium, an auditorium, science labs, and energy-efficient systems. No field houses or swimming pools would be allowed. If communities want those things, Cahill said, they would have to be built as separate buildings that would not qualify for state reimbursement.

Roughly four designs would be chosen, and the architects of the winning designs would automatically work with any school district that selects the design. That could be a financial windfall for those architects, while leaving other firms with little work.

Cahill and Sullivan already have their eye on one model school: Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, which opened three years ago and cost $49 million. Cahill said that school would cost about $69 million in today's dollars. The school features a lecture hall, state-of-the-art science labs, and a stately stone-and-red-brick facade with arched windows and columns.

Cahill said 21 architectural firms, including the firm that designed Whitman-Hanson, have expressed interest in submitting model school designs.

About eight high schools are on the fast track for state construction funding approval, and the idea is most likely to be tested in Norwood, where the cost to build a new high school has swollen to $100 million, up from $80 million when the project was first conceived a few years ago. The opportunity to participate in the model school program and save money appears to be easing opposition to the project, which involves knocking down a decades-old high school that is beloved by many residents for its clock tower and stately columns.

"We were against demolishing Norwood High, but if it has to go that way, the model school program seems like a good way to go," said Frank McKeown, chairman of the Common Sense Committee, a local advisory group. "It would save us a lot of money."

Paul Samargedlis, chairman of Norwood's School Committee, said, "It's such a good thing the state is doing, you wonder why wasn't it instituted years ago."

For skeptics, the answer to that question is a lack of flat land.

"The good sites are all built on," said Duncan McClelland, a principal of Flansburgh Architects of Boston, which designed the new Lawrence High School and intends to submit a model school design. "It may be more difficult than people realize, but we are certainly willing to give it a try."

McClelland said the basic core of a high school is fairly standard. State school design standards dictate the size and quantity of everything from classrooms to administrative offices, the cafeteria, and the gymnasium.

Metzger said that he tried a prototype design for four elementary schools in Haverhill, but that each had to be significantly altered because of the varying sites they were built on. His firm has not decided if it will apply for the state program.

Cahill said his agency will provide districts with slightly more reimbursement money if they opt to build a model school. Reimbursement ranges between 40 to 80 percent, depending upon a community's wealth.

If the model school program proves successful, Cahill said, he intends to expand it to middle schools and elementary schools.

Cahill said his job is to hold the line but not shortchange the students.

"That's just life, and you have to adjust to it," Cahill said of not giving communities everything they want. "We don't have the money. We are living within our budget and giving people options."