from the office of State Rep. Robert S. Hargraves

State Representative Robert Hargraves reports that grants totaling $2,167,594 for fiscal year 2008 have been awarded to the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

The grants assist the Towns of Groton and Dunstable in paying for construction of the Regional Middle School, 344 Main Street, Groton and the new Regional High School on Groton's Chicopee Row.

According to GDRSD [0] Superintendent Alan Genovese, "MSBA awarded the Middle School project $466,835 for FY08, and the project will receive one final payment in FY09 in the amount of $466,839. That will close it out."

The MSBA granted $1,522,398 in FY07 for the High School project based on the District's unaudited application. MSBA adjusted this upward to $1,700,759 for FY08 upon the agency's final project audit. Superintendent Genovese notes that "The District's support for the MSBA's rigorous audit process reduces by $178,361 the annual school construction debt payments made by the Towns of Groton and Dunstable." The District will continue to receive the adjusted grants through retirement of the bonds in 2022.

The Authority deposited the grants directly into the District's account. Thus the payments do not appear on either the state vendor Web site or the state-aid "Cherry Sheet." MSBA Executive Director Katherine Craven says the District made available all documentation or information requested by the Authority regarding the District's school construction projects as approved by the Department of Education.

As of May 2007, the MSBA anticipated granting $370.2 million toward 703 projects in 222 school districts across the Commonwealth for the 2008 fiscal year.