The Massachusetts School Building Authority Approves $75 Million in Grants Through the Green Repair Program
An Expedited Process will Improve Learning Environments for Children in 29 Schools
BOSTON, MA – State Treasurer Steven Grossman, Chairman of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”) and Katherine Craven, MSBA Executive Director, announced today that the MSBA’s Board of Directors has approved 61 projects in 29 districts under the Green Repair Program. The MSBA grants for these 61 projects total approximately $75 million.
The main goals of the Green Repair Program are to improve learning environments for children and teachers, reduce energy use and generate cost savings for districts. The program will repair or replace roofs, windows and/or boilers in schools that are otherwise structurally, functionally and educationally sound. Districts are eligible to receive funding for more than one school and these upgrades will make the buildings more sustainable and energy efficient and will produce energy savings.
“Our Green Repair Program allows us to make much needed repairs to more schools in less time. Besides improving the learning environment for our children, the green repairs also make our schools more energy efficient, and generate significant cost savings. It's a win-win program for everyone,” stated Treasurer Steven Grossman.
“The Green Repair Program will provide incredible benefits to districts by enabling the MSBA to both expedite and broaden the MSBA’s participation in repair projects, thereby maximizing the impact of this program,” stated Executive Director Katherine Craven.
The MSBA strives to find 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 dollars 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 six year history, the MSBA has made $7.6 billion in reimbursements to cities, towns and regional school districts for school construction projects. These timely payments have saved municipalities over $2.9 billion in avoided local interest costs and have provided much needed cash flow to communities in these difficult economic times.
