Cahill, MSBA announce approval for Longmeadow High School

Date: 4/5/2010

April 5, 2010

BOSTON -- State Treasurer Tim Cahill, chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), and Katherine Craven, MSBA executive director, announced March 31 that the MSBA Board voted to approve the addition and renovation project for Longmeadow High School (LHS). The next step in the process is for the town of Longmeadow and the MSBA to enter into a project funding agreement which will detail the project's scope and budget and set forth the terms and conditions to which the town will receive its grant from the MSBA.

"We offer a fiscally responsible blueprint for future school construction that will help local communities like Longmeadow provide a strong educational foundation for the children of the Commonwealth," Cahill said.

"We still have to work out some details, but the MSBA is prepared to reimburse up to $34,004,658 for the renovation project at the Longmeadow High School," Craven added.

"The School Building Authority's vote brings us one step closer to a state-of-the-art educational facility for Longmeadow as well as a number of much-needed jobs in western Massachusetts. I applaud the efforts of the both the MSBA and town of Longmeadow for working together to bring us to this moment," State Sen. Gale Candaras said.

"This is a history-making opportunity for the town of Longmeadow. A great deal of hard work and due diligence has gone into this project on all levels," State Rep. Brian Ashe commented. "I am very proud to be a part of this project as we all strive to keep Longmeadow as one of the top performing school systems in the Commonwealth."

The MSBA is collaborating with municipalities to equitably invest up to $2.5 billion in schools across the Commonwealth by finding the right-sized, most fiscally responsible and educationally appropriate solutions to create safe and sound learning environments. The MSBA is committed to protecting the taxpayer's dollar by improving the school building grant process and avoiding the mistakes of the past in the funding and construction of school facilities.

The MSBA has reformed the Commonwealth's formerly rampant and unsustainable program, which had accumulated $11 billion in debt. In 2007, as a result of programmatic reforms and sound fiscal management, the MSBA was able to reopen a sustainable, reformed grant program. In its five year history, the MSBA has made approximately $6.6 billion in reimbursements to cities, towns and regional school districts for school construction projects. These timely payments have saved municipalities over $2.8 billion in avoided local interest costs and have provided much needed cash flow to communities in these difficult economic times.