Why The Urgency on the Minuteman School, And Other FAQs

SUDBURY, MA -- Many questions surround Sudbury’s possible withdrawal from the Minuteman School District. The Board of Selectmen has requested that the town withdraw, and in order to do so, along with several other towns in the 16-town district, have indicated their desire to do so, as well.

But why withdraw? Why is there a Special Town Meeting in February to address it? Why the urgency, and why now?

All of these questions are addressed in a recent announcement by Sudbury’s Board of Selectmen.

Here are some of the questions, and answers, as they appear on the town website:

Why are we having a Special Town Meeting on February 9?
All sixteen towns in the Minuteman Regional School District must hold a Special Town Meeting prior to March 1 to approve a new version of the Minuteman Regional Agreement. Those towns, including Sudbury, which have indicated they might withdraw also need to obtain Town Meeting’s approval to withdraw from the district under the new agreement.

Why can’t this wait until our Annual Town Meeting in May?
At our annual Town Meeting, Minuteman will present a request for capital funding for a new school building construction project to all towns in the Minuteman District. In order to present an accurate estimate of the costs of this project for each of the member communities, the composition of the district—who’s in and who’s out—must be known beforehand. Before May, Minuteman needs to know what we decide at our February 9 Special Town Meeting.

Why doesn’t Minuteman wait and request capital funding next year in 2017?
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has set a deadline of June 30, 2016, for approval of funding to construct a new Minuteman School Building by the member towns in the Minuteman School District. If the deadline is met, the MSBA will pay for a significant fraction, variously described as $58 million or 40% of the total eligible project costs, of the $144.9 million building. If the deadline is not met, the MSBA will withdraw funding for the project. Minuteman wants to meet the June 30, 2016, deadline to obtain the funds from MSBA to construct the new school building.

What’s the urgency on the new school?
The Minuteman School Building is, by all accounts, in need of major updating and refurbishing. Minuteman is in danger of de-accreditation because of the poor condition of the building which hasn’t had any significant improvements since it was originally built in the 1970s. Tackling the maintenance needs, including maintenance deferred in anticipation of a new building, needs to happen soon. Spending the amount of money to address the building’s problems will trigger the requirement that the facility be brought up to current code; up till now, many non-compliance issues have been grandfathered. Repairs and upgrades will run in the tens of millions of dollars, and MSBA is not expected to reimburse. Rather than spend money on the existing school, Minuteman would like to build the new school with current facilities and up to current code. If the building project is approved in 2016, the anticipated opening date on the new building is 2020.

So Minuteman needs approval from district member towns for capital funding for a new building by June 30, 2016. Why are they just now proposing this amended regional agreement for our approval?

The existing Minuteman Regional Agreement was adopted in 1970, and last amended in 1980. Amending the Minuteman Regional Agreement requires that each of the sixteen member towns approve the proposed amendment at its Town Meeting. Sudbury was one of six member towns not to adopt the most recent proposed set of changes in 2014 and again in 2015. Following this defeat, Minuteman declined any further attempt to modify the Regional Agreement and focused on getting approval for the building project under the current agreement. For various reasons it appears that funding for the new building project would not successful. In November and December of 2015 selectmen from district towns negotiated the amended regional agreement containing a provision allowing withdrawal for some towns, which is now under consideration.

The towns’ Board of Selectmen reached agreement on proposed amendments to the regional agreement on Dec. 21, the details of which can be found here.