Boston Focus, 4.11.25

Even in a city with expensive housing, school buildings may be the priciest real estate

In May 2022, under the threat of potential state receivership, Mayor Wu unveiled a new plan, a Green New Deal for Boston Schools, pledging $2B to have “fully redone…every school building in Boston in the next decade.”

In under three years, the first half of that promise is nearly fulfilled: Boston’s capital budget released on Wednesday morning included $1.81B in capital work for schools. Nearly 40 cents of each capital dollar for the next five years will go to a Boston school building.

What does that buy?

Boston has ~120 school buildings. There are 47 capital projects listed, but it is difficult to name an exact number of schools impacted. 37 schools are directly named, but there are several larger items referring to “various” or an unspecified number of schools.

In fact, nearly one-third of the projects do not specify schools or are a study process with an uncertain outcome.

For example, the “indefinitely postponed” West Roxbury Educational Complex project still captures $18.1M of the budget. Madison Park is allocated $100M, but the city would be on the hook for $700M if Massachusetts School Building Authority money doesn’t come through.

The capital budget also reflects some big bets. Only 7 of the projects account for ~40% of all the capital funds.

Starting and completing these projects would address a different dynamic. Prior to the start of this year, a very small percentage of the project funds in the capital plan had been actually spent.

With ~94% of the capital dollars still in pipeline, the clock is ticking. How long does it take to do a study? Move a project out of study? How quickly can a site be determined and construction or renovation completed? The more projects that sit in a queue, the less margin there is to add new or significant projects to the budget.

To make this all work, the BPS capital plan hinges on a dramatic ramp up, increasing its annual spend by a factor of 10 in the coming years. Such an increase in activity will require considerable planning and management.

It is possible to renovate and modernize 100+ school buildings in 10 years. Washington, DC did.

Boston will have to move a lot faster - and spend even more money - to claim that same achievement.

Schools

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