HOLYOKE– The city of Holyoke has been awarded millions of dollars to build two new middle schools for the first time in more than two decades.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) awarded the city a total of $73,273,858 to construct a new building and to rebuild the William R. Peck Middle School. The new building will replace the H.B. Lawrence School.

Rep. Aaron Vega told Reminder Publishing the schools will be the first to be built in the city since the 80s when the Dean Technical High School was built. Peck and Lawrence Schools are just as old with Peck being built in 1973 and Lawrence built in 1930.

The MSBA granted the city $34,833,974 towards the replacement of the Lawrence School. The new facility, the Chestnut Street School, will serve grades six to eight and will be built on the site of a vacant lot at Chestnut and Cabot Streets.

Vega said once the Chestnut School is built, the Lawrence School will be decommissioned. The district is currently looking into the possibility of moving their administrative offices to the building once the school is decommissioned. Vega said currently those offices are in a rented space, and it could potentially save the district money.

Holyoke was also awarded $38,439,884 by the MSBA to tear down and rebuild the Peck School on its existing location.

Vega said the middle schools will also allow the district to return to a grade configuration model that will break grades into three different tiers: pre-k to fifth grade, sixth to eight grade, and ninth through twelfth grade. This, Vega said, will help prepare the students better.

“The consistent message from the community and teachers was to go back,” he said. “This will allow students to get a real middle school experience to prepare them for high school.”

He continued, “...The new schools would allow us to ‘right size’ the district, control for better busing routes and provide a true middle school experience for our students.”

The total cost of the construction projects are around $135 million. Vega said this would leave the city to pay for the remaining cost of the schools, which would be about $62 million.

One of the options Holyoke is looking at to pay for the schools is a debt exclusion in November. This, according to Vega, would increase taxes for residents within the city. However, he said “it’s a real investment in our future.”

Vega also stressed that the tax increase would not go into effect for three years, and during that time the city would look for other ways to pay for the project.

“The tax increase doesn’t happen for three years until the project is done, we have three years to look for additional funds to cover that cost, and we’re engaged in looking for that right now,” Vega said. “The reality is we don’t bond for projects like this until it’s completed.”

Examples of ways the city could pay for the project could include federal grants. Vega used Easthampton as an example, as they recently went through a similar situation. He said while the MSBA will only reimburse eight percent of the cost of site prep, the city could explore leveraging the alleviation and cleanup from the project with EPA funds that could result in millions of dollars.

Vega continued, “Easthampton also got grants for tech and disability access. There’s certain part of the projects we could get additional funds for and not have to bond for.”

While the cost of two new middle schools may seem high, Vega told Reminder Publishing, even if the schools were not built, the city would still need to consider a large bond to maintain the current schools and keep them functional as the MSBA found the buildings to be not sufficient. This, he said, would cost “tens of millions of dollars.”

He also added that over the last few years, enrollment in public schools has gone up, increasing the need for the new schools. Vega said for the 2019-2020 academic year, due to demand, the district added two new, additional preschool classrooms, and “there’s still many families on the waiting list.”

The debt exclusion vote, which is planned for November, is the next step in the process. Vega said he expects a lot of questions and concerns regarding the vote, but thinks the new schools will give the kids an advantage and parents “confidence in the district.”