A Comparison Test for School Construction Projects

A recent newspaper article listed a number of school building and renovation projects undertaken by Connecticut towns in our region. They included a new seven-building campus and auditorium for Darien High School that cost $73 million.  New Canaan spent $74 million to completely remodel their high school. Trumbull spent $68 million on major renovations of Trumbull High School, including a new auditorium. The article could have included mention of the $80 million rebuilding of Staples High School in Westport, Weston's major school expansion project, and Fairfield's $33 million construction of a second high school  as well.

But look closer. Greenwich's proposed spending on MISA equates to approximately $660 per resident of our town. The Darien High School project cost $3,700 per town resident, more than five and a half times the amount that we're proposing to spend on MISA. The New Canaan High School project comes out to more than $3,800 per resident of that town. The Trumbull project amounted to triple the amount per capita of MISA.  Westport's major revamp of Staples High School, at $3,000 per town resident, is four-and-a-half times what we're proposing to spend on MISA. And Wilton spent over a thousand dollars per town resident on their performing arts space a decade ago, 70 percent more than what we're proposing to spend.

In short, those towns understand the importance of building and maintaining excellent educational facilities. They undertook far bigger projects that were far more costly to each town resident than what we're talking about here. They understand that it is more than a question of dollars and cents. They understand that an excellent public school system with modern facilities is critical to the education of their youth, as well as maintaining the long-term health of their towns. 

BET members should put themselves in the shoes of a young couple of financial means looking to move to the suburbs to educate their children in a public school system. Greenwich is not an island, and there are many choices of towns to move to in this region Do BET members believe that young couple would opt to settle in a town with poorly maintained and over-crowded schools with outdated facilities? Or would that couple choose to live in a town that displays a commitment to its public school system by investing in new and excellent facilities? BET members should ask themselves, if young families begin to pass over Greenwich for towns that invest far more resources in their school facilities, what will happen to long-term property values in this town?
 
The BET should do the right thing, and approve MISA.

- Sean Goldrick

(Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the construction cost for a second Fairfield high school.)