NHPS Photo
ESUMS’ middle school pioneers.
If shovels don’t hit the ground by April 2012, New Haven stands to lose $9.5 million from the state to build a new home for the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) — as the state may move to rein in its spending on school construction.
Will Clark, the school district’s chief operating officer, made that observation as Gov. Dannel Malloy, saddled with a fiscal crisis, pushes a bill that would cut back on the amount of money the state spends to help cities build and renovate schools.
Days before his budget address, Malloy announced he would seek to cut state reimbursement rates for new magnet schools from 95 percent to 80 percent. Other school construction projects are reimbursed on a sliding scale from 20 percent to 80 percent. Malloy said he’d cut that sliding scale to 15 percent to 65 percent for new construction, but leave it alone for renovations.
Because Mayor John DeStefano’s $1.5 billion campaign to rebuild or renovate every New Haven school is nearing an end, most school projects would escape unscathed by this change in public policy.
The ESUMS project is one of the last few to be built new under the mayor’s signature school construction program, which began in 1998 and was paid for mostly by state funds. The 34th school, Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy, was completed last fall. Hill Central Music Academy, Davis Street Magnet and East Rock Global Magnet School remain under construction.
Clark said despite delays, the district plans to break ground on ESUMS before April 1, 2012, thereby ducking the blow of any changes to reimbursement rates.
Since 1999, the state has paid the city $735.2 million for 42 different school construction projects, according to state records. Further payments will come when municipal bonds that paid for the projects come due.
Dozens of New Haven school projects have already completed state audits, which comb through budgets for ineligible expenses such as a larger-than-authorized auditorium. On one occasion, the city had to pay back $1.5 million for a land sale that the state claimed there was no evidence to justify.
Four school projects are currently being audited: Conte West Hills, John C. Daniels, Clinton Avenue and Fair Haven K‑8.
The mayor announced last month that the city had a new $2.6 million budget hole this fiscal year due to delayed payments for the first two projects. State education spokesman Tom Murphy said those payments have been held up because the city reissued bonds to pay for the projects, and therefore the state has to recalculate how much money was really spent. The other two schools are listed in state records as having “audit issues.”
In 2011 and 2012, the district plans to submit five more projects for audit: King/Robinson, Wilbur Cross High, Benjamin Jepson, Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet, and Cooperative Arts and Humanities High.
Clark said he’s concerned future audits might feature more aggressive hunts for allegedly ineligible charges.
One oft-mentioned concern is that the district is losing students and schools are falling below their enrollment projections. State spokesman Murphy said schools shouldn’t be punished for having lower-than-expected enrollment figures.
“They have to provide well-documented enrollment projections,” Murphy said, but “those projections don’t necessarily have to be correct.” If enrollment drops “for a good reason, then they’re not necessarily penalized.”
Mayor DeStefano said he is also concerned about a possibility of a stepped-up auditing effort. The effect on the city’s budget, he said, would “depend on how aggressive they are.”
New Haven’s rebuilding program might change as a result.
The last school construction program revision anticipated building replacement schools for Hyde Leadership Academy, New Haven Academy and High School in the Community, according to DeStefano. Those could see reductions in state reimbursements, he said.
In a separate interview, Clark said those schools might be renovated instead of rebuilt from scratch — a move Malloy is now encouraging with his new policy.
ESUMS Math
ESUMS, a 3‑year-old school that’s already posting high marks on tests and school climate surveys, is one of the few remaining projects that might be affected.
The school was dreamt up in 2005 as a joint effort between New Haven, West Haven and the University of New Haven (UNH) to build the state’s first science-oriented public high school. It was intended eventually to serve 616 students: 400 from New Haven, 125 from West Haven, and 91 from other towns.
The city got approval in June of 2008 for state funding to build a 112,567-square-foot school serving grades 6 to 12. The state agreed to pay 95 percent of the $59.5 million project. The school site is on the campus of UNH, in the town of West Haven, not far from the New Haven border.
Nearly three years later, the construction project has not gotten off the ground.
Schools superintendent Reggie Mayo said the project has hit some “snags” and construction has been slowed, but the district remains committed to building it on the UNH campus.
Meanwhile, the cost of the project has risen to $65 million, according to Clark. According to a proposed change in state law, the district would “need to have commenced construction by April 1, 2012” to get the 95 percent reimbursement rate, Clark said.
“If we do not make that deadline,” meaning demolition contracts are signed or other work has begun, then the city’s share of the cost could rise by $9.5 million, Clark calculated. That would be on top of the $3 million the city already committed to pay.
Meanwhile, the school has been growing in temporary housing. It opened in 2008, serving just grade 6. It has added a class of students each year.
ESUMS is currently housed at the St. Stanislaus school on State Street. It serves 226 students in grades 6 to 8.
Melissa Bailey Photo
At a recent school board meeting, ESUMS PTO president Andrea Frasier (pictured) stepped up to the podium. She shared a concern about the future of the school community, which has been bounced around between swing spaces pending a permanent home.
In the fall, the school plan to add a 9th grade as well as accept a new class of sixth-graders. At that point, Frasier said, students will “outgrow” the school.
“Parents feel frustrated because they don’t know where the school is going to be, because the current school there are at, they will outgrow.”
Frasier said parents are asking her, “Oh, should I find another high school for my kid?” She asked if a board member could fill parents in on the plans.
Clark stood up to reply.
“We are aware of the issues,” Clark said.
Melissa Bailey File Photo
“We’ve been working as aggressively as possible to get the permanent location on the campus of UNH,” Clark said. The city’s school construction team met the week prior with the architects and members of the West Haven town council, Board of Education and zoning officials, said Clark (pictured).
“We’re trying to cut through as much of that red tape as we can to try to ease that project forward, but because it’s in West Haven versus New Haven, there’s other issues associated with it that may hinder that.
“So we’re looking at alternative sites that could accommodate the program as well, or possibly some adjustments within the program to maybe squeak out another year” at St. Stanislaus.
“We are actively seeking the interim solution as well as the long-term home for the school,” Clark said.
“We are moving a little slow on getting that new building up, a few snags, but we are working through those,” added Superintendent Mayo. “We’ve seen some progress in the last couple of months.
“Let me also say that I don’t think anything has changed in terms of our commitment to seeing that this school is actually in operation on the campus of the University of New Haven.”
The school’s principal “has come up with a plan to stay in that building for another year if we do run into some problems finding the appropriate space for it,” Mayo said. He pledged that school officials would visit the parent group to explain the situation.
Three days later, the district announced that the school’s principal, Marjorie Edmonds-Lloyd, has taken a voluntary layoff. Clark declined to comment on who would take over running the school.