State Does Not Accept Framingham Into Building Construction Grant Program For New Elementary School

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FRAMINGHAM – The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has not invited Framingham to be a part of the MSBA’s grant program for building a new elementary school.

This is the second time Framingham’s request has been denied. It was first denied in February 2022.

Framingham’s Fuller Middle School project was rejected a couple of times before it was finally accepted into the program.

The MSBA voted on new projects accepted into the program at its December 21, 2022 meeting.

MSBA’s CEO James A. MacDonald and Executive Director John K. McCarthy sent a letter to Mayor Charlie Sisitsky, Framingham Public Schools Superintendent Bob Tremblay, City Council Chair Phil Ottaviani Jr., and School Committee Chair Priscila Sousa, letting them know the project would not be funded.

The state agency received 54 requests from 46 different school districts for consideration in 2022.

Less than a dozen were invited into the program.

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“In reviewing SOIs, (Statement of Interests) the MSBA identifies the school facilities that have the greatest and most urgent need based on an assessment of the entire cohort of SOIs that are received for consideration each year,” said the MSBA to Framingham leaders.

“Based upon the MSBA’s review and due diligence process, it has been determined that the Hemenway Elementary School SOI will not be invited into the MSBA’s Eligibility Period this year. If the District would like this school to be considered for future collaboration with the MSBA, the District should file an SOI in an upcoming year. The MSBA will begin accepting SOIs for consideration in 2023 on Friday, January 13, 2023,” wrote the MSBA.

City leaders have not announced this news publicly in a press release yet.

School leadership wants to replace the existing Hemenway Elementary School, which is more than 6 decades old, with a new elementary school on the South side, as that is where a majority of the students in the City of Framingham reside.

“The MSBA remains committed to collaborating and partnering with the City of Framingham to better understand school facility issues. The MSBA will be sending detailed information regarding the 2023 SOI process in the coming week,” wrote the MSBA to City of Framingham leaders.

Tonight, January 3, the 11-member City Council will hold a closed door executive session meeting at 7 p.m. with the Sisitsky administration to discuss the purchase of land on Bethany Road for a proposed new elementary school on the South side of the City.

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The City submitted a State of Interest (SOI) for the Hemenway Elementary School.

The Tremblay & Sisitsky administrations have announced previously that they would like to close Hemenway Elementary on Water Street and open a new elementary school on Bethany Road, as the replacement.

The first step would be to acquire the land. The cost of that purchase is unknown at this time.

The City could go forward with the elementary school project after land acquisition without the MSBA grant, but that would mean taxpayers would foot the entire bill.

On Wednesday, October 31, 2018 the MSBA Board of Directors voted to approve a $39.5 million grant to build the new Fuller Middle School in the City of Framingham. This was the third submission by Framingham to the MSBA for funding. The first two submissions were rejected.

Voters approved a debt exclusion override in December 2018.

The cost of the 6-7-8 school on Flagg Drive was roughly $98.3 million.

Groundbreaking for construction was in June 2019.

The middle school opened in August of 2021.

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