By Alice C. Waugh
Officials at Minuteman High School are gathering public input from its 16 members towns on option for renovating or rebuilding the school, and Lincoln residents are invited to a forum on Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m. in the Town Office Building.
Since 2009, the School Building Committee has been working on a feasibility study with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) in hopes of winning MSBA funding, which would offset a significant portion of a building project’s cost. The MSBA has given Minuteman an extension until June 2016 to win the required consensus from member towns in order to qualify for a grant (see illustration).
Minuteman has also been trying to win approval from its member towns for modifying the regional agreement. As it now stands, changes to that agreement (as well as their contributions for a building project) require unanimous approval of all 16 towns. Lincoln residents were asked to vote on it at Town Meeting last month, but passed over the question at the recommendation of Selectman Peter Braun and Finance Committee member Laura Sander. If the new agreement passes in its current form, Lincoln’s share of capital costs would increase and its weighted vote on the Minuteman School Committee would drop from 6.25 percent to 4 percent.
Cost estimates for five repair/renovation options being considered by Minuteman High School (click to enlarge).
“They have lumped all small towns [in the Minuteman district] including Lincoln together by looking at only proportional enrollment at the school,” said Braun. “We want to help the school, but we believe we’re not just one of the smaller towns. As a host community, we need an adequate voice.”
One of the options under consideration is tearing down the existing school (which sits on property off Route 2A straddling Lincoln and Lexington) and erecting a new building on the Lincoln portion of the property. Lincoln makes “unique, tangible and substantial financial contributions to the school,” which does not pay local taxes on its property, include its 47 acres in Lincoln, Braun said.
Lincoln officials are negotiating with Minuteman leadership for “a fair and reasonable financial solution that gives due recognition to Lincoln’s contributions in contrast to all the other towns, Braun said. Ideas that have been discussed include a tuition discount for Lincoln students, payments in lieu of taxes, or one or more real estate transactions, he said.
In 2014, Acton, Arlington, Bolton, Carlisle, Concord, Lancaster, Lexington, Needham, Stow and Weston approved the draft amended regional agreement and Wayland rejected it, while Lincoln, Belmont, Boxborough, Dover, and Sudbury passed over the matter. Aside from Lincoln, none of those towns have held their 2015 Annual Town Meeting yet. At its Town Meeting on April 13, Wayland voted to withdraw from the Minuteman district, but that too, will require approval from the other 15 towns.