State Turns Triton Down for New School Buildings

TRITON REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT – The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) turned down Triton Regional School District’s request to help fund renovation or construction of a new high school/middle school building.
Superintendent Brian Forget said last week he believes Triton’s application was denied because construction costs are skyrocketing, limiting the number of projects the MSBA can fund.
“There’s only so much money, and they choose the neediest recipients each year,” Forget wrote in an email last fall when he was optimistic that Triton would be selected. “We know the number of applicants was lower (54), but now we hope that the needs were more in line with ours and not a group of buildings that have extraordinary needs that make ours pale in comparison.” 
Forget promised to explain in more detail next week why Triton’s application to partner with the MSBA was turned down.
A study of the 286,000-square-foot building by Habeeb & Associates Architects of Worcester last year estimated that repairs to the buildings would cost more than $63 million and were increasing about 4 percent per year.
Post-Covid inflation has hit the construction industry hard with inflation and rising costs dwarfing those projections.
The district serves three towns – Newbury, Rowley and Salisbury, which would have needed to join in funding a $1.5 million feasibility study of the project this year.
The district will spend time this year, preparing to submit a new application for state funding, Forget said.
The MSBA, which is funded in part by the sales tax revenues, partnered with Triton to fund 52 percent of the renovation costs for the Pine Grove Elementary School.