To the editor:

As Westport prepares to go to the polls this Tuesday, February 27th to vote on the new school proposal, I ask you to consider some new information you may not be aware of, and that has not been openly discussed in the debate over this issue.

(1) As reported in the Taunton Daily Gazette on February 9, 2018, in a near-unanimous vote representatives of Bristol County towns and cities approved a nearly $104 million improvement project for the campus of Bristol County Agricultural High School.The project would result in a total renovation of the existing building that will accommodate an improved variety of classes and disciplines, and will expand the capacity of the school well beyond its current 448 student enrollment to break a four-year waiting list of students, including Westport students, who want to attend the school.

The vote authorizes the three-member Bristol County Commission to petition Beacon Hill for special legislation to accept the measure.

The commission has said that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”) has agreed to pay for $50.5 million of the project, with the balance of $53.2 million falling to the 20 towns and cities, including Westport, that constitute Bristol County.

For Westport, based on a projected assessment of 10% as calculated by our estimated percentage of the Bristol Agricultural student body, our share of the $53.2 million investment is estimated to come to roughly $5.3 million. This amount will be added to our Town indebtedness, presumably over a 25 to 30-year period, and require an annual increase in our Town operating budgets to cover the added principal and interest.

(2) As reported in the Fall River Herald News on December 13, 2017,the MSBA announced that its Board of Directors voted to invite Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School into the MSBA’s Eligibility Period. During the 270-day Eligibility Period, the MSBA will work with the Regional School District to determine the District’s financial and community readiness to enter the MSBA Capital Pipeline.

Diman Superintendent Thomas Aubin said at last Monday’s Westport Selectmen’s meeting that Diman clearly needs to expand its current 1395 student enrollment, since it is turning away over 300 students per year who seek to attend. Aubin also said the school’s curriculums need to be expanded and enhanced to face the technical challenges of the 21st century.

Although the final plans have not yet been presented, Aubin said that the proposed expansion will cost at least $100 million, and that the MSBA is likely to underwrite $72.3 million or 72.3% of this investment. Again, for Westport, our share of this investment, if approved, and based on our students’ proportion of the Diman student body, wouldbe 9.8%, or a projected $2.7 million. This amountwould also be added to our existing indebtedness, and require increased operating budgets to cover the added principal and interest.

Westport already pays the tuition to send several hundred students to Diman, Bristol Agricutural, Dartmouth, and other community schools, as well as funding our increasing local school budget each year for fewer and fewer students.

My conclusions:

All of this information is good news for our existing and incomingWestport high school students who will have increased opportunities to receive the best vocational education available in our region at Diman and Bristol Agricultural.

Westport High School faces increasingly stiff competition from other schools in the South Coast region that are bringing on a new supply of student seats and education alternatives. These include Diman and Bristol Agricultural, the new Fall River Atlantis Charter School with capacity for 1435 students, as well as Dartmouth High School which currently has 300 or more openings. Without significant changes and upgrades to its curriculum, enrichment, and sports programs, Westport will struggle to even maintain its current reduced and declining high school enrollment, whether the education is delivered in a new $97 million building or not.

Westport’s indebtedness is projected to increase by roughly another $8 million, assuming both the Diman and Bristol Agricultural projects become reality as currently described. This amount is on top of the Town’s existing $120 million in debt incurred primarily for the new Police Station and our unfunded retirement obligations (at a realistic investment rate of return), and before the $57 million in new debt proposed for the new school.

Bill Reed

Westport