By Laura Kostin
The planned renovation and expansion of Riverside School may undergo a significant change thanks to new legislation from Hartford. The legislation increases State reimbursement significantly for school building projects that include Pre-k programming.
Current Education Specifications for the project estimated at $43m do not include any Pre-k classrooms. They were evaluated as part of the project but they were removed in order to cut about $2m in costs.
Including them now seems financially advantageous. According to the most recent GPS Capital Projects update, “legislation was passed to award a 15% reimbursement bonus for eligible expenses to the entirety of a construction project that added PreK space.”
Greenwich typically receives State reimbursement of 20% of allowable costs for school renovation projects. Assuming a 20% reimbursement rate of the $43m estimate, the State would reimburse the Town roughly $8,600,000. An increase of 15% to 35% would theoretically put reimbursement at about $15m. (*All estimates preliminary).
While no action to revise the Ed Specs is expected at Thursday’s Board of Education, the Board has been asked to discuss the matter. The newly formed Riverside School Building Committee is preparing to go out to bid to hire an architect.
