Minuteman and Other Vocational Technical Schools
prepared by Jim Gammill, September 7th 2016
Introduction
As a member of the Warrant Committee and a Town Meeting Member for the past few years, I have
tried to stay reasonably well-informed about the ongoing effort to address the problems with the
existing building at the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School in Lexington.
But now, with the September 20 district-wide referendum on whether or not to authorize the
Minuteman District to borrow the $144.9 million needed to build a new 628 student high school,
I realized I needed to dig deeper and gather more information, both about Minuteman, its new
Regional Agreement, and other regional vocational technical schools. This document is the result
of my efforts over the past few weeks.
I appreciate greatly everyone who gave me comments on earlier drafts. This document, however, is my own work. I have tried focus on providing accurate and relevant information. In preparing this I learned many things, some of which strike me as a reason to vote yes, and others strike
me as a reason to vote no. Ultimately, it is up to each voter to decide what to do on September 20.
Contents
The rest of this document is divided into five sections.
The first is a brief introduction to the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District.
The second section looks at general, budget, and enrollment information for thirteen different
regional vocational technical schools in eastern Massachusetts, including Minuteman, using FY14
data as found on the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) web site.
The third section references an accompanying note about the implications of the new Minuteman District Agreement and DESE regulations on allocating future capital costs among member
and non-member towns, and summarizes the main comments I received on that note.
The fourth section presents the recent credit ratings for the ten Minuteman member towns.
The final section lists resources available on the web.
1
The Minuteman District and the New Building Project
The primary mission of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District is to offer a
four year high school, and to do so, it owns and operates a sixty acre facility with a $19 million
dollar operating budget and a payroll covering about 140 people. In addition to its high school, it
offers other educational and recreational programs.
Minuteman receives revenues from a variety of sources: state and federal grants, operating
and capital assessments collected from its members, tuitions from non-member towns, and other
program and facilities fees.
Minuteman is also responsible for its long term assets and liabilities. Its property, plant, and
equipment are its main assets, and the prospect of continuing maintenance is in effect a long term
obligation. In addition, staff members who have ten or more years of service are eligible to receive
partial subsidies for health insurance in retirement, and this post-employment benefit is a liability
as well.
The Minuteman district is governed by its Regional School Committee (the Committee), operating under the Regional District Agreement (the Agreement), which was most recently amended
and approved by the state Commissioner earlier this year. The Agreement identifies how costs are
to be allocated among the members of the district. The Agreement also authorizes the Committee
to collect fees from non-member towns that send students, but acknowledges that such fees are
subject to state law and applicable regulations.
In November 2015, the Committee voted 12-1 to approve a schematic design for a new high
school building, with a project budget of $144.9 million. The design is for a two story building with
a target enrollment of 628 students, housing two career academies consisting of 16 career and
technical education programs, plus other supporting facilities. The project plan is to have the new
school ready by September 2020.
In January 2016 the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) voted unanimously to support a $44 million funding agreement to help defray the capital costs. In June 2016, the Committee
voted to seek approval for debt financing through a district-wide vote, after the Belmont Town
Meeting failed to support the building project. The district-wide vote will be held on Tuesday,
September 20th, from noon to 8 pm. A simple majority of the votes district-wide will decide the
issue.
In addition, if the district-wide vote is in favor of authorizing the new debt but the majority
within an individual town is opposed, that town may call a Special Town Meeting within 60 days
of the vote to seek to withdraw from the District. If an article to withdraw passes by a 2/3 supermajority, then the town will not be responsible for the debt issued by the District, regardless of
whether the application to withdraw is approved by the state or not.
2
Comparing Vocational Technical Regional Schools
This section identifies twelve other vocational technical regional schools within 42 miles of Belmont. The distances shown here are the shortest driving distances to the schools from the Beech
Street Center in Belmont, and the morning drive times listed are the Google provided estimates
based on leaving from the Beech Street Center and planning to arrive at each school by 8 am on a
weekday morning. Note that the schools are listed in order of distance from Belmont.
Distance
(miles)
7.5
Morning
Drive Time
16-26 minutes
URL
Minuteman.org
13.2
30-45 minutes
ShawsheenTech.org
Chelsea, Malden, Melrose, North
Reading, Revere, Saugus, Stoneham,
Wakefield, Winchester, Winthrop,
Woburn
Avon, Braintree, Canton, Dedham,
Holbrook, Milton, Norwood, Randolph, Westwood
19.5
35-45 minutes
NorthEastMetroTech.com
20.4
35-50 minutes
BlueHills.org
21.2
35-50 minutes
NashobaTech.net
Keefe
Framingham
Ayer, Chelmsford, Groton, Littleton,
Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, Westford
Ashland, Framingham, Holliston,
Hopkinton, Natick
22.1
35-55 minutes
KeefeTech.org
Greater Lowell
Greater
Lawrence
Tri-County
Tyngsborough Lowell, Dracut, Tyngsborough, Dunstable
Andover
Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, North
Andover
Franklin
Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleborough,
Plainville,
Seekonk,
Sherborn,
Walpole, Wrentham
24.4
40-55 minutes
GLTech.org
27.7
40-55 minutes
GLTS.net
32.4
45-60 minutes
Tri-County.us
Assabet
Marlborough Berlin, Hudson, Marlborough, Maynard, Northborough, Southborough,
Westborough
33.8
45-60 minutes
AssabetTech.com
Southeastern
South Easton
Brockton, East Bridgewater, Easton,
Foxboro, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon,
Stoughton, West Bridgewater
36.7
45-60 minutes
SERSD.org
Whittier
Haverhill
Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland,
Haverhill, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury, West Newbury
41.8
50-65 minutes
WhittierTech.org
Fitchburg and 17 other towns
41.9
50-65 minutes
MontyTech.net
Name
Minuteman
Location
Lexington
Shawsheen
Billerica
Northeast
Wakefield
Blue Hills
Canton
Nashoba
Westford
Montachusetts Fitchburg
Member Towns
Acton, Arlington, Belmont, Bolton,
Concord, Dover, Lancaster, Lexington, Needham, Stow
Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Tewksbury, Wilmington
3
This next table shows statistics gathered from various pages and spreadsheets available on the
DESE web site. The latest information currently available from this source is for FY14. (The links to
these sources are listed on page 7. The total enrollment and the member enrollment numbers are from
two different sources, but for similar time frames. If the member enrollment is greater than the total
enrollment, I identify the percentage as 100*.)
Name
Minuteman
$ FY14
Budget
19,397,621
$ Per
Pupil
26,528
Total
Enroll
730
Member
Enroll
394
Percent
Members
54
Percent
w/ IEPs
47
FY14 Ch 70
$ per pupil
2,952
Shawsheen
25,551,628
18,652
1370
1382
100*
26
4,615
Northeast
25,295,342
20,485
1235
1242
100*
26
6,933
Blue Hills
18,035,979
21,181
852
830
98
23
4,671
Nashoba
11,771,193
16,165
728
637
87
36
4,967
Keefe
17,264,446
25,615
674
711
100*
48
5,469
Greater Lowell
40,228,909
18,816
2138
2196
100*
22
11,251
Greater Lawrence
28,780,815
19,672
1463
1426
97
22
15,525
Tri-County
17,837,844
16,838
1059
964
91
27
5,222
Assabet
19,264,364
18,380
1048
704
67
32
3,604
Southeastern
27,453,611
20,770
1322
1342
100*
22
10,113
Whittier
22,708,432
18,145
1251
1116
89
24
6,330
Montachusetts
26,518,791
18,290
1450
1453
100*
15
9,744
Five observations stand out to me.
First, Minuteman in FY14 did have the highest per pupil operating cost, at $26,528, followed by
Keefe at $25,615.
Second, three of the four smallest schools (Minuteman, Keefe, and Blue Hills) have the three
highest per student operating costs. This suggests that there are scale efficiencies associated with
operating vocational schools. However, Nashoba has a similar enrollment with operating costs per
capita similar to the larger schools, and it will be important to understand this difference.
Third, the two schools with the highest per student costs (Minuteman and Keefe) have a significantly higher percentage of students with Individual Education Plans (”IEPs”). This suggests that
providing special education services in-district has a significant impact on operating costs.
Fourth, Minuteman and Assabet are the only two schools with a significant portion (that is,
more than 25%) of their total enrollment filled by students from non-member towns. The other
schools have very few if any students from member towns.
Fifth, the Chapter 70 funds from the state budget vary widely across schools. Vocational schools
serving Lawrence and Lowell receive a much higher level, per student, than the other schools.
Minuteman per student Chapter 70 funds are lowest of all the schools, due primarily to the low
relative enrollment from member towns.
4
Minuteman and Future Allocation of Capital Costs
This section refers to a document I wrote and circulated to the Belmont working group for Minuteman this past week. It is titled ”A Note on Capital Costs”, and there is an accompanying spreadsheet
to try different enrollment and cost scenarios.
The purpose of the note is to apply the new Agreement and the new DESE regulations to various
scenarios and projections about Minuteman’s allocation of capital costs in the future to member
towns and to non-member towns.
This is the text of the relevant regulation (603 CMR 4.03(6)(b)(4)(c)):
In instances where there is no tuition agreement in place between sending and receiving districts, the commissioner shall establish tuitions rates for the purposes of M.G.L. c.74, s.7C. In
calculating and establishing said tuition rates the commissioner . . . May, in instances where
the receiving district has been authorized to operate a facility that serves a high percentage of non-resident students, establish a capital construction and renovation increment to
be added to the tuitions paid on behalf of non-resident students attending the school. In
calculating any such increments, the Commissioner shall use the actual expenditures for
this purpose, as reported by the district for the year for which the non-resident tuition was
calculated, divided by the total school enrollment.
If DESE implements the regulation as written, then the non-member towns will pay a pro-rata
share of the annual capital costs, which would be in line with the capital costs paid by member
towns.
The comments I received on the note raised the concern that DESE would not follow through
on its regulation, and that non-member towns would not have to pay the pro-rata cost, leaving
the member towns with a larger share of capital costs. A second concern raised is that passing
along the pro-rata capital costs to non-member towns would drive down demand, resulting in an
enrollment below the 628 target and proportionally higher per student capital costs.
5
Comparing the Credit Ratings of the Minuteman Member Towns
If Minuteman proceeds with building the new high school and Belmont remains in the District, then
the ten member towns will be responsible together for the repayment of the debt. This repayment
will likely take place over thirty years, with an equal annual debt servicing cost each year. The plan
is for the funds for the annual principal and interest payments to come from capital assessments
on the members and non-members, proportional to each town’s share of the enrollment.
A relevant consideration is the credit worthiness of the Minuteman member towns. The two
most widely known credit rating agencies are Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. They use similar
grading scales for assessing a town’s credit worthiness.
The top ratings are Aaa (Moody’s) and AAA (Standard & Poor’s), for those bond issuers with an
extremely strong capacity to meet their financial commitments. Belmont is a Aaa rated borrower.
The next highest ratings are Aa (Moody’s) and AA (Standard & Poor’s), for those bond issuers
with an very strong capacity to meet their financial commitments, only slightly weaker than the
Aaa/AAA rating.*
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services posts the credit ratings
of each city and town on its Municipal Databank web page. As of December 2015, the credit ratings
of the ten member towns are:
Town
Acton
Arlington
Belmont
Bolton
Concord
Dover
Lancaster
Lexington
Needham
Stow
Moody’s
Aaa
Aa1
Aaa
Aa2
Aaa
Aaa
Aa3
Aaa
S&P
AAA
AAA
AAA
AAA
AA+
Note that six of the towns have an Aaa or AAA rating, one town has a split rating (Aa1/AAA), and
the three remaining towns have Aa or AA ratings.
* Both agencies have a plus or minus system, to tweak ratings less than the top Aaa/AAA rating up or down slightly.
In the Standard & Poor’s ratings, a 0 +0 is a tweak up, and a 0 −0 is a tweak down. In the Moody’s ratings, 1 is like a
+, and 3 is like a − (and 2 is neither).
6
Resources
The following table shows the state codes for the 13 vocational-technical schools discussed in this
document.
School
Minuteman
Shawsheen
Northeast
Blue Hills
Nashoba
Keefe
Greater Lowell
Greater Lawrence
Tri-County
Assabet
Southeastern
Whittier
Montachusetts
State Org Code
08300000
08710000
08530000
08060000
08520000
08290000
08280000
08230000
08780000
08010000
08720000
08850000
08320000
The following links to state web pages are set to show the information for Minuteman (orgcode=08300000).
You can navigate to the pages for other schools with the drop-down menu on the page, or edit the
’orgcode’ for the appropriate school.
General Information
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/general.aspx?
topNavId=1&orgcode=08300000&orgtypecode=5&
FY14 Expenditures
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/finance.aspx?
&orgcode=08300000&orgtypecode=5&
SPED Enrollment
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/gis/sped map.aspx?
orgcode=08520000&&fycode=2014
Teacher FTEs
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/teacher.aspx?
orgcode=08520000&orgtypecode=5&leftNavId=830&&fycode=2014
Municipal Databank
https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/DLSReports/DLSReportViewer.aspx?
&ReportName=At A Glance&ReportTitle=At%20A%20Glance
7