Groton Could Be Eligible For 80 Percent Reimbursement For Future School Construction

Groton could be eligible for 80 percent in state reimbursement for new school construction if the project is intended to correct a racial imbalance, under a measure passed by the legislature and expected to be signed by the governor.

“It changes the whole landscape and the whole discussion of the cost of building new schools,” said State Rep. Edward Moukawsher, D-Groton.

In May, voters overwhelmingly defeated a plan to authorize $133 million in bonding to build a new middle school, create two early childhood centers and redistribute students to various buildings in the district. One of the arguments for passing the plan was that it would create better racial balance in the schools.

The state notified Groton school officials last winter that Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School, which has a minority population of 60.3 percent, was out of compliance. A school is considered racially imbalanced if the minority population is greater than 25 percentage points above the district average.  Superintendent Paul Kadri presented the construction plan to the state as the town's long-term way of creating racial balance.

State Department of Education spokesman Thomas Murphy said the higher reimbursement rate, which is part of the bonding package, would apply to projects submitted and approved after June 30. He said such projects would have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

But he said often racial balance plans deal with more than one school, including those that are in balance, and these projects could be covered by the 80 percent rate.

“If the project is cited as part other remedial plan to bring another school into compliance with the racial imbalance law, it may, in fact, qualify,” he said.

Superintendent Paul Kadri said he was not aware of the bill but added, "I would be very interested in hearing about it, being brought up to speed on it and seeing how it would apply to us." 

He said he still needs to make sure the district's elementary schools are racially balanced for the year and that there is a plan going forward.

The construction plan defeated in May would have built a new middle school in Groton, created two early childhood centers and shuffled students among the elementary schools.

Although Groton was cited for racial imbalance in one elementary, it is on the verge of having the same problem in middle school. West Side Middle School's student population is about 54 percent minority, according to figures submitted to the state. Fitch Middle School has a minority population of 41 percent, and Carl C. Cutler Middle School has a minority population of about 15 percent.

Moukawsher said Groton’s eligibility for the rate could be more significant because the town’s reimbursement for school construction otherwise is expected to fall.

He said the Office of Fiscal Analysis reported that Groton’s reimbursement rate would fall from 57.5 percent to 47.5 percent after July 1.

Archie Swindell, chairman of the education committee for Representative Town Meeting, said the issues the construction plan was designed to fix still exist. For example, the plan was supposed to save money by eventually having one middle school instead of three.

Creating a new construction proposal could take time, he said.

“This plan was like 5 years in the making and involved hundreds of hours of volunteers, and a lot of money," Swindell said. "And can we do that in time to cash in on the (new) proposal? I don’t know."

But he said he believes money was the main reason taxpayers voted 'no' on the school construction.

“There were two or three objections to the referendum that caused it to fail, but I think the only one of any real substance was the cost,” he said.