The Wu administration’s push to secure state funds for a new “world-class” school building to house the controversial proposed merger of the Shaw and Taylor Elementary Schools has brought some push-back from parents and advocates who say similar efforts to win grants for Boston schools have failed in recent years.

The skeptics point to similar promises in the South End, Brighton, and East Boston that didn’t materialize because they were rejected by the state’s Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program.

Earlier this month, Boston Public Schools officials said they intend to submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) to the building authority in April in hopes of winning approval for the building program in December.

Yet, as recently as last December, the district was denied entry into the payment program by the MSBA for other school building projects. Those schools – the Blackstone K-6 in the South End and the Otis Elementary in East Boston – are now left with big questions about their next steps. Some wonder if the same thing might happen with the Shaw-Taylor plan, though the district remains confident that its proposal will be considered differently.

“State funding is unpredictable,” said Will Austin, director of the Boston Schools Fund organization. “Any master facilities report they say they will produce by December has to account for uncertainty in funding because you can’t bank on state funding. There are a lot of other projects, and cities and towns in line.”

That has been the case for the Blackstone and Otis schools, as well as for the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Brighton – which was turned away for a new building early in 2022 by the MSBA.

Last year’s submissions for the Blackstone and Otis were competition with 52 other projects from 45 school districts statewide. On Dec. 21, the MSBA rejected Boston’s bid in a letter to Mayor Wu.

“In reviewing SOIs, the MSBA identifies the school facilities that have the greatest and most urgent need based on an assessment of the entire cohort of SOIs that are received for consideration each year,” the letter read. “Based upon the MSBA’s review and due diligence process, it has been determined that the Blackstone Elementary School and the James Otis Elementary School SOIs will not be invited into the MSBA’s Eligibility Period this year.”

Part of the problem with both buildings, the letter said, is that they were not deemed “district priorities.” It was also noted that Boston already has new buildings under construction, including the Josiah Quincy School downtown and the South End’s Carter School for high-needs students.

Additionally, the district has heavily utilized an accompanying MSBA program – the Accelerated Repair Program – to repair windows, boilers, and roofs across the district over the last several years. Both the Blackstone and Otis had work done as recently as 2020 in that program, as have many of BPS’s older schools, and the MSBA isn’t likely to help demolish schools with such recent work completed.

Nevertheless, at the March 15 meeting of the School Committee, BPS officials affirmed their plan to move forward with a Shaw-Taylor application next month. Brian McLaughlin, project manager for the City’s Public Facilities Department (PFD), said he felt the Shaw-Taylor would be viewed differently by the MSBA than the Blackstone or the Horace Mann. He said that those buildings had facilities and programs not deemed reimbursable by the MSBA, like community centers and health centers.

“I think both facilities [the Shaw and the Taylor] are preventing the district from producing the desired educational program, which is a big thing the MSBA looks at when factoring in which facilities to move forward,” McLaughlin told the School Committee on March 15.

“Based upon the ability to present in the SOI issues at both facilities,” he added, “I think the MSBA will likely review them and visit these schools to get a clearer understanding of how difficult it is to provide the educational needs of the students in both buildings.”

Because SOIs are due on April 14, the new building process and the long-standing discussions about whether to merge the Shaw and Taylor communities are on different timelines. To submit an SOI, the district needs the approval of the City Council and the School Committee, said Delavern Stanislaus, BPS chief of capital planning, almost one month before the merger vote. Voting for the new building, she noted, is not a vote for merging the schools.

For Shaw parents – many of whom are skeptical of the plan – it doesn’t feel that way. Deb Shea, mom to a second grader, said the merger feels like a done deal.

“It does feel like the decision has been made, and we just have to go on with it in a way,” she said, “which is really sad because the Shaw is a great school that hasn’t been given the opportunity to grow to its full potential.”

All of which highlights the difficulties Boston has had with building new schools in Dorchester and Mattapan. When the Mildred Avenue School in Mattapan and the Lilla Frederick in Dorchester were built in 2003, they were filled with students at first, but gradually declined or changed focus.

In 2004, the Frederick had 678 students, but in 2023, its population has dropped to 323 students. The Mildred started as a middle school, transformed into a K-8 school, then went back to a middle school, and is now a K-8 school again.

School communities in Boston, Austin said, don’t choose schools because of the facilities, but rather their educational programs. He said educational programs and school climates should be front-and-center for the Shaw-Taylor, or it risks following the Mildred and the Frederick.
“It doesn’t matter if it gets funded or how many new spaces there are, it will be a good school if in the end these two school communities buy in and want to send their kids to that school,” he said. “When parents pick schools, facilities aren’t at the top of the list.”

That goes back to parents like Shea who are heavily involved in the merger conversation and the future of the school community. However, any new building wouldn’t be occupied until 2030, project manager McLaughlin said, and that means Shea’s daughter would be a sophomore in high school. But she and other parents are worried the future is going to distract from the present.

“We want to do the best for the neighborhood, but we also are really invested in the current students being heard and being supported and getting what they need,” Shea said.

Emily Piper-Vallillo contributed to this report.