HOLYOKE — City and school officials met with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Tuesday in an effort to chart a path forward following a failed vote to build two new middle schools.
Mayor Alex Morse, Receiver-Superintendent Stephen Zrike, School Building Committee Chairman Devin Sheehan, at-large City Councilor Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, met with the MSBA after voters overwhelmingly rejected a debt exclusion override to finance $54 million of the approximately $130 million project. The proposal had received a $75.8 million grant from the MSBA.
In a joint statement released on Wednesday, Morse and Zrike said that because the city has no other way to fund its share of the project, the MSBA grant is no longer available.
The officials said they had advocated that the MSBA allow Holyoke to explore other options for the project, but the agency directed the city to resubmit a statement of interest between January and April. The MSBA would then review that statement of interest, and could then invite the city to join the eligibility period, at which time Holyoke would created a school building committee and proposal for funding, the statement says.
“The MSBA recognizes that significant work and thoughtful planning have gone into our middle school project so far and they may be able to expedite the process for us in some way,” Morse and Zrike said. “The MSBA affirmed their support of our educational vision and the plan to design distinct elementary and middle school offerings for Holyoke students.”
Sullivan provided an update from the meeting at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. He noted that the Student Opportunity Act — the $1.5 billion school funding bill just passed Wednesday in the state Legislature — provides increased funding for the MSBA, which is also going to reconsider its current per-square-foot funding formula.
“The biggest thing I got out of this meeting with the MSBA … is that they are committed to moving as quickly as possible, using as much of the current plan and work already completed, within the city’s financial constraints,” Sullivan said. “Basically, what that means, in a nutshell, is that they want to keep us at the top of the list.”
Following Sullivan’s update to the committee, Ward 3 City Councilor David Bartley — a staunch opponent of the middle schools project — noted that the delegation that met with the MSBA consisted of some of the project’s biggest backers.
“That was a fairly devastating defeat for a bad plan,” he said, referring to the fact that 64 percent of the city voted down the project. “My hope is that we can do a lot better than what was previously presented.”
In an interview Wednesday, Vega noted that although the MSBA might be providing more money in the near future, escalating construction costs could offset that improved funding.
“The final number might be a bigger number, but the project cost will probably be a bigger number, too,” Vega said.
Vega said he is disappointed with the MSBA’s decision not to allow the city to consider an option to build just one school, especially given that the state and city have spent more than $1 million already on the project.
Morse and Zrike said that in the coming weeks the MSBA will clarify next steps for the city. Questions and suggestions, they noted, can be sent to msredesign@hps.holyoke.ma.us.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.