Worcester councilor seeks report on cost of adding middle school to Burncoat project

WORCESTER — A city councilor is asking the city's chief financial officer to provide a report on the debt associated with all major projects in the city, including the planned replacement of Burncoat High School.

District 3 Councilor George Russell also requested the report include a projection of how adding Burncoat Middle School to the Burncoat High School proposal would affect the debt.

"On any of these buildings … part of the taxes that are collected go toward paying the debt," Russell said.

"I'm asking for the administration to assure us on a chart what the debt services would be for everything we have now. What the debt service would be for Burncoat – which they already have in projections where they've talked about it informally – and then to factor in Burncoat Junior High."

The Massachusetts School Building Authority voted last year to approve making replacing Burncoat High School eligible for state funding. The school district has indicated that replacing the high school is its highest-priority construction project.

Since 2006, when construction of a new Worcester Technical High School building was completed, the district has also seen the construction and opening of a new North High School in 2011 and South High Community School in 2021.

A new Doherty Memorial High School is under construction and is slated to open fall of 2024.

Russell said Worcester East Middle School is also in need of renovations; school department chief communications officer Dan O'Brien says East is a high priority for facility upgrades.

"My feeling was always that Worcester East Middle School should be next in line behind Burncoat," Russell said.

The school district has received funding to replace all the school's windows in 2025. The school's boiler system was replaced in 2013, and in 2021 the school got a new roof from city, with the state contributing funding.

"There's been talk about [East Middle School] with some members and myself about some improvements that I believe are in the works from the state," Russell said. "One time, a few years ago, I remember sitting in the auditorium and walking around and seeing chipped paint. I walked through the hallways and there's plastic sheets duct-taped over windows. They at least deserve some improvements."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester city councilor seeks report on debt costs of construction