MSBA Commits to Funding Up to $43.6M for New Higgins School

The Mass. School Building Authority's board of directors announced last week they are committed to funding a major share of a new middle school for Peabody.

The board voted to approve a grant up to $43.68 million or a reimbursement rate of 56.16 percent of eligible costs for construction of a new building to replace the aging J. Henry Higgins Middle School. That leaves the city with about $48.9 million to pay, according to Mayor Ted Bettencourt.

That reimbursement rate includes additional points for maintenance and energy efficiency in the new building.

Peabody officials submitted schematic designs and a detailed budget package to the MSBA on Feb. 14 and the projection then was about $91 million, and now Bettencourt is asking the City Council to authorize a bond order of $92.6 million.

A memo dated April 4 to the council explains that the amount the city will actually borrow will be reduced by the MSBA grant, but the full amount does need to be authorized within 120 days of the MSBA's decision on April 2.

Neither Bettencourt nor Higgins Building Committee Chair Beverley Griffin Dunne were available for further comment late last week. The project does include a new auditorium, which the MSBA is not paying for.

The next step for the project at this point is for Bettencourt and the building committee to secure a local financing agreement with the council, which would then also be subject to approval by the MSBA. The matter will be before the council April 10 and likely put into committee.

The announcement from the MSBA said that Project Funding Agreement will detail the project’s scope and budget, along with the conditions under which the city will receive the state grant.

“This is a down payment on the academic excellence of Peabody students,” said Treasurer Steve Grossman, who chairs the board of directors. “Upon completion, this new school will provide a modern learning environment and create the space needed to deliver on the school district’s educational commitments and goals.”

spring and indicated then the MSBA would be state agency would be strongly behind building a new school.

“The new [school] will replace an aging school with an up-to-date, 21st century learning facility,” said MSBA Executive Director Jack McCarthy. “Students will soon have a beautiful new space which will undoubtedly enhance and improve their ability to excel in the classroom.”

The new Higgins Middle School will be three stories, 221,518 square feet, much more compact and efficient and designed for an enrollment of 1,340 students in grades 6-8, although Higgins Principal Todd Bucey says 200-300 more students could fit if need be.

So far the projected timeline for the new school is to break ground in June 2014 and have the new school completed in the summer of 2016. At that point, students would move into the new school and the existing 48-year-old building would be torn down and replaced with new athletic fields.

Check out the Higgins building project website for more information.