CAN YOU AFFORD A $2,500 ANNUAL INCREASE IN YOUR TAX BILL?
Who is Andover Better Schools?
- Andover Better Schools is a growing grass-roots effort of dedicated Andover residents who are passionate about educational excellence and prudent fiscal management. The proposed $500 million new high school serves neither purpose. It will not increase educational excellence and is at odds with sound fiscal management practices. Plain and simple...it has not been well thought out.
- The prelude to a planned 2024 Town Meeting vote on the $500 million project is a $1.3 million request at a November 20, 2023 Special Town Meeting. This money will be used to lock-in the enormous project designed by the consultants working for the town's school building committee.
What's this all about
- A $500 +/- million new high school is proposed by the School Building Committee for a Town Meeting in early 2024. The Committee is a group of 10 unelected residents who are frequently appointed to the town's 45 committees and boards. Several are former School Committee members while others are school administrators. None are teachers or educators.
- This Committee has decided to forgo partnering with the State in order to expedite the project by three years. The decision means the loss of a $100 million + subsidy. A misguided decision which has never been approved by the voters .
- The debt burden for this facility will devastate the towns AAA bond rating and raise the average tax bill by $2,500 per year for the next 30 years.
- The proposed new school is 50% larger than the existing high school. A much larger school for a student enrollment that has been declining every year since 2016. This decline will continue through the next decade.
Why do they want to spend all this money?
- The Committee contends the $25 million school renovation in 1995 is too old to accommodate todays students with over crowded classrooms and cafeteria.
- The school is also in need of $40- $50 million in HVAC and code upgrades per the town's facility director.
So what are our options?
- STEP 1: VOTE at the Special Town Meeting on November 20, 2023.
- STEP 2: Vote NO on Article 7A which funds $1.3 million to continue the design for the $500 million school. The Andover Finance Committee voted to disapprove this expense on October 25, 2023.
- Step3: Vote YES on Article 7 B which funds $500,000 to design a $50 million more responsible plan from the Town Manager. The plan will add classrooms and upgrade the HVAC systems and building code improvements. This work is expected to ready the school for the next 10-20 years. At that time, the community can re-examine various alternatives when it can afford issuing new debt.
Tell us more about the details
- The $500 million proposed project is 50% larger than the current school and would be the third largest high school built in Massachusetts in the last decade (behind only Lowell and Fall River which are 2- 3 times more populated than Andover).
- The $500 million project estimate has jumped from $203 million in 2018 to $266 million in 2022 to $480 million in 2023. And there is still another $50 million "under consideration". This incredulous surge is due to a complete lack of oversight and an absence of any design discipline from the Committee.
- The proposed project exceeds the State's maximum Educational Space Standards by nearly 50%. "The standards are reflective of realistic, future-oriented and contemporary educational program goals".
- The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is responsible for a facility survey of public schools. The survey is conducted by an independent team of architects and engineers. The most recent survey gave Andover High an above average grade for the Building Condition. The score means "the building is in generally good condition with a few building systems that may need some attention".
- MSBA also grades each school for "General Environment". This measure includes data concerning the natural daylight, size of classrooms, open floor plan, and building condition. Andover received the highest grade possible which states "the building is good and conducive to teaching and learning".
- The call for a $500 million new school has been fueled by a lack of comprehensive capital improvement plans. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) issued a Comprehensive District Report for Andover in 2022. The report found there is "no formal preventive maintenance plan in place" which leads to the slow degradation of facilities.
- The DESE report also found there is "an absence of evidence that the School Committee's decisions were informed by a careful and frequent review of data".
- The $500 million school is also not supported by the most frequent occupants of the building (the 850 member Andover Education Association).
- In summary, it appears the Building Committee's sense of urgency for a $500 million school with it's $2,500 annual tax increase is unwarranted. This irresponsible venture is not supported by an examination of verifiable empirical data.
What is Andover's debt profile
- The current debt profile was described as "weak" by the bond rating agency in its December 2022 report. The agency warned that the issuance of material new debt may move the rating profile to "very weak".
- A rating downgrading would significantly impact the fiscal integrity of the town and cost millions in added long term interest payments. Current estimates peg this premium as high as $100 million over the next decade when other planned capital projects are included.
- The higher interest payments will mean a significant reallocation of essential public services. These costly interest payments will also negatively impact future negotiations of municipal and public schools workers contracts.
- The manager has advised that the town will have added capacity to incur additional debt within the 10 next years. He has repeatedly cautioned on the adverse risk of added debt exposure on numerous occasions.
- As such, many concerned citizens believe the credit warning should cause the town to pause on the proposed $500 million project.
Summary
Andover Better Schools is committed to shining light and presenting verifiable facts on this $500 million endeavor. It is essential that the full community be armed to make responsible decisions. We should not be bulldozed by a small group of appointed committee members.
We appreciate the opportunity to bring reason and balance to this very important discussion. We look forward to your comments and questions.
Thank you very much.