State Treasurer Tim Cahill, Chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”) and Katherine Craven, MSBA Executive Director, today announced the opening of the fiscal year 2011 Statement of Interest (SOI) process. Submissions may be filed from November 17, 2010 until January 26, 2011. The MSBA will be accepting new and refreshed SOIs electronically through its on-line web-based SOI System for consideration in FY2011.
Submitting an SOI is the critical first step in the MSBA’s program for school building construction and renovation grants. The grant program is a non-entitlement, competitive grant program, and grants are distributed by the MSBA Board of Directors based on need and urgency, as expressed by the community and validated by the MSBA.
Over the next several months, the MSBA will be working with districts to verify the problems identified by the district in their SOI submission and to determine the appropriate level of due diligence that may be required by the MSBA. If the district-identified problem is verified by the MSBA, the district and the MSBA will work collaboratively to determine potential solutions that are educationally and financially sound and that fit within the MSBA’s capital funding pipeline.
The MSBA will also be reviewing previously submitted SOIs as they are refreshed by districts. The MSBA will not make any decisions for any potential projects in FY2011 until (1) the MSBA has received and reviewed the entire cohort of SOIs, and (2) the MSBA has performed some due diligence on district selected priority SOIs.
The MSBA strives to find the right-sized, most fiscally responsible and educationally appropriate solutions to create safe and sound learning environments. The MSBA is committed to protecting the taxpayer’s dollar by improving the school building grant process and avoiding the mistakes of the past in the funding and construction of school facilities.