Superintendent says new East Providence High School meetings with state officials were positive

District remains on path to meet RIDE mandates, deadlines

By Mike Rego
Posted 12/22/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — In meetings with state officials subsequent to the last gathering of the school committee, Superintendent Kathryn Crowley said the district’s effort to finalize its plans for a …

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Superintendent says new East Providence High School meetings with state officials were positive

District remains on path to meet RIDE mandates, deadlines

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — In meetings with state officials subsequent to the last gathering of the school committee, Superintendent Kathryn Crowley said the district’s effort to finalize its plans for a potential new high school building remain on track while at the same time admitting “there’s still a ways to go.”

The superintendent, last week, met with Kevin Gallagher, deputy chief of staff for Governor Gina Raimondo, and General Treasurer Seth Magaziner to discuss East Providence’s on-going effort to replace its 65-year-old high school.

The school committee has backed an initiative to completely rebuild the high school, doing so at its existing Pawtucket Avenue location. As part of the requirements to gain state financial support, the district must meet criteria specified by the Rhode Island Department of Education.

East Providence has already completed the requirements of the first phase. The district is currently in the midst of conforming to the stipulations of Phase 2, the key elements being the finalization of the school’s design, the amount of funding the city will provide and a comprehensive five-year plan for repairs needed in the district’s other buildings.

“The meeting went well,” Superintendent Crowley said of her forum with state officials. “We spent a good deal of time discussing bonding and incentives the task force recommended.”

A recent task force formed by the governor to review building repairs needed for schools throughout the state suggested the state present voters with $500 million in referenda items in the next two elections, $250 million each 2018 and 2020. That money would be dispersed to municipalities on a need basis. It would also take much of the initial burden of funding repairs away from cities and towns and leave it with the state. The governor is likely to back the task force’s proposals and seek the support in the General Assembly during the 2018 session.

The conundrum for East Providence and other interested municipalities, however, is that it must for the time being seek funding through existing guidelines and reimbursement rates. That means the city council must agree to support the new high school project at 45 percent of its potential cost. As an example, if the total price tag was $100 million, The city would be required to pay $45 million. The current state reimbursement formula pays back East Providence at a rate of 54 percent of total costs for school construction costs.

As it stands currently, soup to nuts, the new high school plan is estimated to cost north of $120 million. The superintendent, though, conceded the proposal will likely be “streamlined” before it must be finalized to meet the RIDE deadline of February 1, 2018. She noted the district would be working with RIDE throughout the later stages of the process.

“We’re kind of in a no-mans-land considering that we’re going to bonding at the same time as the state is trying to do the same thing,” Superintendent Crowley said.

In addition to the recommendation for funding, the task force also suggested incentivizing new construction to meet curricula now and in the future. If the assembly concurs, districts could receive five percent increases in reimbursements for Pre-Kindergarten program, additional choices at career and technical centers, environmental efficiencies in buildings and the inclusion of the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) discipline. If those incentives were met, the reimbursement rate from the state under the existing formula for the new high school could reach as much as 74 percent. The superintendent said East Providence is seeking to include all of those elements in its proposal.

Of note, too, as part of meeting the five-year plan requirement, Superintendent Crowley said Dr. Joseph DaSilva, chief architect at RIDE, came away impressed from a recent tour of the district’s buildings with how East Providence has been responded to maintenance of its schools.

“Dr. DaSilva said East Providence should be commended, used a model for the rest of the state, for how the district has used the housing aid it has received in recent years,” the superintendent added.

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