Part Three of a Three-Part Series

[Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a three-part series examining the funding and construction of public schools in Massachusetts.]

Last summer, faced with a budget crisis and a School Building Assistance Program that many believe is in need of reform, Gov. Mitt Romney instituted a moratorium on new applications from communities seeking state funds to renovate, expand or build new schools. The move forced many Massachusetts school systems to dash hopes for new buildings in favor of Band-Aid patches. It also has had a severe effect on the architecture and construction industries, leaving dozens of local firms that specialize in the design and building of educational facilities – work that usually is steady and reliable – scrambling for contracts.

“We’re finishing stuff off right now but [to replace] the five or six jobs I typically had in school construction, I have to go out and find something else,” said Steven Kenney, vice president of Boxborough-based NB Kenney Co. “There’s not much out there for anyone, and when you do find a job there are 12 to 15 bidders.”

Kenney Co., a union mechanical contractor, has completed close to 200 school projects within the last 20 years. School construction comprises 85 percent of the firm’s public construction work.

A few years ago, Kenney said jobs typically attracted six or seven bidders but a general slowdown in the private commercial real estate development market and uncertainty about financing for schools and other public construction has spurred much more fierce competition for project contracts recently.

“I’ve seen 21 bidders for a town hall” construction contract, he said. “How can you compete with 21 people?”

Industry watchers estimate that school construction usually accounts for one-third of the $3 billion in public-sector contracts awarded in the Bay State annually. But with the School Building Assistance funding pipeline frozen, public design jobs have screeched to a near halt and construction jobs are being sought not only by those builders that traditionally have focused on that sector, but also by contractors hard pressed for work in their own usual areas of expertise.

“The construction industry has serious concerns because it’s affected the backlog,” said Monica Lawton, executive director of the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts in Boston. “Right now, they’re still working but there’s nothing coming down the pipeline. Projects are going into the ground now but over the next few years – that’s when they’re [going to be] feeling the pain.”

More than 380 schools already in the queue before the moratorium went into effect await state reimbursement checks. Some of the projects were completed years ago while others have yet to break ground. Beyond that list are a host of other communities considering school projects necessitated by growing populations and aging buildings. Some need new buildings now but with the moratorium in place cannot consider a new large-scale project. Even for those schools on the state’s funding priority list, the wait for reimbursement payments could be a long and uncertain one.

Witchcraft Elementary in Salem has been waiting for funding since 1999 for a renovation project completed last year. Others, which jumped on the list in the months before the July 2003 moratorium on new projects, are left with unanswered questions about construction, financing and, most importantly, a start date.

In the meantime, schools continue deferring needed maintenance in the hopes that a new building eventually will get off the ground or pouring repair and renovation money into buildings that will eventually be closed. Lowell, for example, ranks 33rd on the priority waiting list for one of its projects, but city officials predict that it may be 10 years before the city receives its first reimbursement. City officials, anticipating funds for a new school, initially believed routine improvements on a building slated for demolition would waste taxpayer money. But with a timeline for new school construction unclear, Lowell has since fixed a boiler and paid almost $15,000 for a roof repair.

Reality Checks

Relief for architects, contractors and the schools may be nearing. Romney proposed reforms earlier this month that not only would clear the priority waiting list by 2009 but also streamline the construction process by enabling communities to build schools faster and cheaper. That bill will be discussed by the Legislature over the next couple of months. Once the reforms have been adopted, it is likely the moratorium on new project applications would be lifted.

Meanwhile, the School Building Assistance Program remains in limbo. Because of the problems and uncertainty, according to one industry watcher, more towns are seeking solutions without state guidance, never mind state assistance. The decisions reached often are inadvisable and economically insufficient in the long run.

“The moratorium is harmful, and not just because schools don’t get the funding,” said David Finney, president of the Design Partnership of Cambridge in Charlestown. Finney also serves as the spokesman for the Boston Society of Architect’s Educational Facilities Committee.

Finney said that the School Building Assistance Program provides a planning process that forces communities to really examine need, cost and how to efficiently solve school-related space and infrastructure problems.

“There’s a certain amount of economic reality checking,” he said. “Without that in place, those few towns that move ahead will be floundering.”

One town, which Finney did not identify by name, planned to close and replace a couple of its schools. However, with the state reimbursement program frozen, the town has chosen instead to spend thousands of dollars on schools that eventually will be eliminated.

“The towns that really need expansions or renovations and don’t have the resources are finding themselves casting about for short-term answers,” he said.

Much like construction companies, architectural firms have seen a major drop-off in school-related work. In a typical year, 40 to 50 schools projects may be advertised but in the past seven months there were fewer than a dozen significant construction projects seeking design bids, according to Finney.

It’s unclear whether Romney’s reform plans will pass. State Treasurer Timothy Cahill is working on his own School Building Assistance Program reforms. While his office won’t discuss details until there’s an agreement between House and Senate leadership, a treasurer spokeswoman said that Cahill believes there’s a more fiscally prudent way to fix the problem – one that won’t affect the state’s credit rating or place a massive debt on future generations.

Finney says that the program should be reinstated, even if the state can’t promise the money at first.

“In order to avoid further pushing towns toward short-sighted, ill-planned projects, it would be wise to reinstate the School Building Assistance Program,” he said. “Some towns may not proceed but it would give them the hope and willingness to go through a process that fosters good planning.”