State formula frustrates city officials

Plans for extra funding to rebuild schools may be wishful thinking

“We’re going to need major support that we have not received historically from the state.”

Stamford Mayor David Martin

STAMFORD — Stamford officials are looking at a budget of half a billion dollars to rebuild a handful of schools, and they want the state to pick up more than its usual third of the cost.

But that may be wishful thinking, as the state’s Department of Administrative Services uses a formula to decide how much a city or town receives for school construction projects.

Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, the director of the Office of School Construction Grants and Review, an agency within DAS, said there are roughly 18 factors that go into the formula.

In the simplest terms, the poorest municipalities in Connecticut get the highest reimbursement rates, while wealthier communities receive a smaller reimbursement percentage.

“And Stamford is getting what it should be getting,” Diamantis said.

For next year, Stamford’s percentage of reimbursement is slated to be 30 percent for general construction and 20 percent for new construction. The state’s formula is set up to offer 10 percentage points less funding for all cities and towns for new construction, as opposed to renovation projects.

By comparison, in Bridgeport, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the state, the state pays for 79 percent of general construction, and 69 percent of new buildings.

The three lowest payment rates in the state belong to three wealthy communities that border Stamford: Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan. They all receive roughly 10 percent for new construction.

“The formula is the fairest formula,” Diamantis said. “It is a bipartisan formula.”

Some Stamford officials disagree.

Mayor David Martin has often decried the state’s formula as one that disadvantages Stamford.

“We’re going to need about half a billion dollars over the next five to seven years,” Martin said during a May Board of Finance meeting, later adding, “We’re going to need major support that we have not received historically from the state.”

In the short term, Stamford is looking for funding for two projects: a near-complete reconstruction of the district’s biggest school, Westhill High School, and a new building at 83 Lockwood Ave. to house a preschool program.

Each of those projects has been submitted to the DAS office for reimbursement.

The initial plan for Westhill is to build a new structure — a fourlevel school on top of the baseball fields located behind the current school — and then demolish the existing Westhill building.

The Lockwood project would involve either renovating or rebuilding the former home of the Trailblazers Academy charter school and turning it into the new home for “Apples,” the district’s early childhood education program.

Rebuilding Westhill alone would come with an estimated $250 million price tag, while the Lockwood redevelopment is projected to cost around $80 million.

Previously, Martin said he believes the city can fund about $125 million of the combined cost over the next five to seven years without affecting the city’s bond rating.

To fund the rest, the city will depend largely on state and federal dollars.

Caroline Simmons, the Democratic candidate for mayor who defeated Martin in a primary last month, said she hasn’t resigned herself to accepting the state’s reimbursement percentage.

She said Stamford’s state delegation, which currently still includes her, will have to advocate for the projects. And she said she’s hopeful the delegation will be able to move the needle in terms of how much money Stamford gets for its upcoming projects.

“I think we have a unique opportunity right now to work with our state delegation, to work with the governor, to put forward a comprehensive list of projects,” she said, later adding, “With strong advocacy, we can certainly try to get more.”

But Simmons said the city can do more than just depend on the state’s funding, suggesting bonds and federal funding, among other options.

Another option for securing more state dollars, which was brought up recently during a public meeting in Stamford by state lobbyist Paula Clarke, is to file for special legislation.

That’s the route Norwalk Public Schools took in 2020. That district was able to secure 80 percent funding for a new high school, well above Norwalk’s normal rate of 23 percent for new construction.

Stamford officials have often cited the Norwalk High School project as a model when discussing the state’s reimbursement rates.

But Diamantis said there was a big difference between that project and Stamford’s desire to rebuild Westhill and the Lockwood Avenue site. The new Norwalk High School will include a regional program for students from other districts outside of Norwalk.

That “programmatic” difference, Diamantis said, is what allowed the project to go around the traditional state formula for funding.

“We encourage regionalization,” he said.

When asked about the option of special legislation for one of the two Stamford projects, Diamantis responded, “That won’t happen.”

He said his department “vehemently” opposes going that route, since it circumvents the state formula.

“It creates an imbalance and allows the formula to be compromised,” he said.

Stamford officials will know by December if the Westhill and Lockwood projects will receive any state money.

Beyond that, the city has also identified four other schools — Cloonan Middle School, Hart Elementary School, Roxbury Elementary School and Toquam Magnet Elementary School — as buildings that need to be torn down and replaced.

In March 2020, Superintendent Tamu Lucero estimated that the cost for rebuilding all five schools would be $500 million, based off the price to build a new facility at Strawberry Hill School.

That structure cost $500 per square foot to build; the five schools slated for demolition are 1 million square feet combined.