BOSTON, MA – State Treasurer Tim Cahill, Chairman of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and Katherine Craven, the MSBA’s Executive Director, were in Haverhill today to announce additional funding for the repair project at Haverhill High School. $331,763 is being added to the MSBA grant that Haverhill will receive. This amount represents an adjustment for inflation since the project’s budget was originally approved in 2003. The MSBA will now be contributing $23,436,596 towards the repair and renovation project.
The 677,333 square foot school, which was built in 1962, is currently being renovated. Upgrades to the exterior of the building, including paving and work on ramps and fields, are currently underway. The school’s safety system has already been repaired; upgrades have been made to elevators, lifts and ramps to make the school more accessible to handicapped students. The HVAC system has been replaced, which includes boilers, ventilators, piping and pumps, and the school’s windows and doors have been replaced.
“I am pleased to be here to announce additional funds for the repair and renovation project at Haverhill High School,” stated Treasurer Cahill. “This project will create a better learning environment for the students of Haverhill and will extend the school building’s useful life -- sparing the taxpayers of Haverhill the expense of a new school.”
“The MSBA’s flexibility to make these types of adjustments is another benefit to cities, towns and regional school districts,” said Katherine Craven, Executive Director of the MSBA.
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 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 six year history, the MSBA has made nearly $7.3 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.