How does the city resolve the apparent pending shortfall of funds to complete construction of new Toll Gate and Pilgrim High Schools?

City Council President Steve McAllister, who completes his tenure on the council this month, was asked that question during a recent interview about his eight years on the council.

He came up with a proposal that has yet to be publicly debated, and it’s not clear it could be implemented: city-owned athletic fields.

McAllister set the scene.

In 2022 voters approved a $350-million bond to build the new schools. At the time, McAllister questioned the need for two schools and whether $350 million was sufficient to do the job. He personally favored a new high school or schools. Putting the question to the voters required council approval. He backed letting the voters decide.

Then the financial backlash of the pandemic hit  – inflation. Supply chains frayed, costs soared, and even before the bond reached the ballot there were those who said $350 million wouldn’t be enough.

McAllister has been the sponsor of all three school bond issues – funding to revitalize elementary and middle schools – to come before the council. He believes the city’s schools are critical to the city’s future. Without good schools, the city won’t attract or retain young families to invest in the community.

But likewise there’s a limit to what the city can afford.

McAllister, whose wife, Vanessa, is an elementary school teacher and is personally friends with many school administrators, feels conflicted.

“I’ve told them a hundred times this is the number [$350 million].”

So, should the city go ahead with construction knowing it will run out of funds before the projects are completed? What then? Does it seek a supplemental bond before that fateful day even though Mayor Frank Picozzi vowed not to spend a penny more than $350 million?  Does the School Committee whittle the schools down to something far less than what voters were told they would get, assuming Department of Education approval?

McAllister suggests the answer may lie in how the city handled the allocation of $250,000 to improve the athletic field and track at Veterans Middle School. The administration and council approved the $250,000, but didn’t put the money in the school budget that then could have been used for other things. It worked. Improvements to the fields are ongoing.

“What if the city oversees all the fields?” McAllister postulates.

The plan calls for the two high schools to be built on their existing athletic fields and then, when they are completed for the start of the 2027-28 academic year, for the existing buildings to be demolished as sites for new fields. Plans for the two new schools do not offer a breakout for the cost of athletic facilities.

Shaun Galligan, chairman of the School Committee, said he has heard some talk of the city owning and operating athletic fields, but has no specifics. “I’m open to any and all options,” he said.

Mayor Frank Picozzi said there has been talk of enhancing the field at Veterans Middle School and building out Mickey Stevens Sports Complex so that it becomes the outdoor athletic center for both high schools. Such a move could reduce costs for the two schools. Picozzi raised the question of whether the Department of Education would support such a plan.

McAllister doesn’t answer how the city would finance construction of the fields or whether the city should run school athletic programs, if at all.

“It would take things off their plate,” McAllister says, thereby enabling schools to concentrate more on curriculum. “The time has come to think of doing things differently … let’s see what other communities are doing.”

Regardless, McAllister reasons, “The next City Council really has to work with the School Committee … it’s all coming out of the same pocket.”