Residents will get their chance to weigh in on the school utilization plan by referendum in the fall, but for now the schools have completed all of the paperwork by the June 30 deadline and formally sent the proposal to the state for approval.

The current five-school model to addresses a rebuild of Ryerson Elementary School and a renovation of Jeffrey Elementary School in two separate referenda, meaning only paperwork for Ryerson has been submitted to the state for consideration. While it was only paperwork for one school, Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice said the application was extensive.

“It is a very comprehensive grant application that covers upwards of 15 to 20 different components,” he said. “Some apply to us, some don’t, depending on what type of school…There is all of the geological testing they had to do and so forth so—it was probably about an inch thick.”

Madison is unlikely to hear back on the state’s decision before the end of the next fiscal year on June 30, 2018, but Scarice said he feels confident about the chance of approval after several meetings with the state.

“We had very positive meetings with the state and they were very supportive of our multi-phase plan and they were very supportive of the way we were approaching the specific schools,” he said. State officials “walked Ryerson school with us. We hosted the officials who are going to be a part of the approval process and they walked Jeffery school as well, so they are very aware that we are dealing with old structures that are in need of some serious attention over the next X amount of years and they were very supportive of the long-term plan that we have in place.”

Even without formal state approval, the project has to be sent to referendum within six months of the application being submitted to the state. For now, the town and schools are looking at a late September 2017 referendum.

The Five-School Model

On June 7 the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance approved the resolution for the cost of demolition and construction of a new Ryerson School on Route 79. Madison’s discussion about a long-term plan for its public school facilities began 2 ½ years ago in response to growing concerns over declining enrollment, the age of the district’s buildings, and the need to ensure the buildings could support the structural vision of the district. The BOE settled on a five-school model (closing Island Avenue Elementary) in October 2016, but with the state budget crisis and growing concern over equity between elementary schools, the final arrangement within a five-school model had been a moving target. On April 18, the board voted to move one of three options forward to other town boards and ultimately the voters.

The board voted five to four on party lines under the Republican majority to move forward with Option Three, a plan to address a total rebuild of Ryerson Elementary School and a renovation of Jeffrey Elementary School over the course of two referenda, rather than Option Two, which would have addressed Ryerson and Jeffrey in the same referendum, or Option One, which involved a rebuild of Ryerson and a more gradual renovation of Jeffrey over a 10-year plan.

Under Option Three, a Ryerson project will be submitted to the state this year, but the Jeffrey project won’t be submitted to the state until 2019 and minor capital improvements will be completed at Polson Middle School over a 10-year period. This option is the most expensive and has a longer overall timeline, but does still address the concern of equity (all elementary students will have new schools under this plan) and could have some bonding advantages.

To complete Option Three, the total estimated project cost comes to $65.8 million with an estimated district share of somewhere between $55.2- and $59.4 million and would be divided between the two referenda. The first referendum would likely take place this fall for $33.2 million and the second would take place in 2019 for $32.5 million.

Renovation rates from the state are more difficult to nail down for Option Three. While the Ryerson project, if submitted to the state in June, would be subject to the 2017 reimbursement rate for new construction of 17.5 percent, rates are very likely to change after this year due to proposed legislation. If they do, Colliers International, the board’s project manager, is only estimating a 15 percent reimbursement rate from the state for renovations if a Jeffrey project is submitted in 2019.

The timeline under Option Three is also the most extensive. A new Ryerson would be designed and constructed from late 2017 through summer 2020 and the Jeffrey renovation would be designed and completed from summer 2019 through to summer 2022. Jeffrey would still be offline for two academic years, but the town and the district would not have to manage two construction projects simultaneously— possibly three with the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library renovation also on the docket for the coming years.