BCAT News

Burlington’s Town Meeting Monday night voted 97-7 to fund a new Fox Hill Elementary School, projected to cost $100.4 million, with about $31 million reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

It was the culmination of years of feasibility study work, including a contentious vote on whether or not to combine Fox Hill with Pine Glen Elementary School into one larger building. The planning process also included multiple novel community engagement efforts, ongoing collaboration between town departments and outside contractors, and regular updates to Town Meeting on the process along the way. 

The new Fox Hill will feature security features, accessible spaces for STEM and outdoor learning, an expanded media center, and pod-style classrooms for grade level groupings, with plenty of spaces for special education classes. It has been designed to be solar-ready, meaning the School Committee could decide at any time to add solar panels and quickly break even on energy costs. 

Some Town Meeting members raised concerns about the size of the school: Although the building is about 1.5 times the size of the current Fox Hill, the MSBA projected an enrollment of 325, much less than the student body of about 440 in the current school. But Superintendent Dr. Eric Conti said the current population fit easily in the new space, and the building would be flexible enough to accommodate changing needs over the coming decades. 

Some other Town Meeting members worried about the cost of the school which is expected to increase the average property owners’ tax bill by about $217 over the course of a couple of years. But others argued walking away form the project now meant turning town MSBA funding that could ease that financial burden. 

“If we walk away from this now, if we walk away from MSBA funds and try to push this down the line, we’re walking away from 35 million dollars,” said Town Meeting Member Michelle Huntoon. “If you want to talk about being on a fixed income and talk about worrying your taxes are going up, your taxes are going to go up. That’s going to happen. If we walk away now, your taxes will go up more.”

“I’m super excited that the town has supported Burlington’s educational infrastructure. I was proud to hear what people had to say about being excited for the future of our kids,” said Melissa Massardo, the School Committee member who chairs the Fox Hill School Building Committee. “This was the culmination of a lot of hard work.” Massardo also thanked Dinisco Design and Dore + Whittier, the designer and Owner’s Project Manager on the project. 

In previous months, there was some discussion about asking voters for a debt exclusion to support the project, but Ways and Means Committee Chair Doug Davison said the committee had decided that wouldn’t be necessary to keep the town financially sound. Now that the town has approved the spending, the team can work on more fine-tuned designs and begin preparing to put the project out to bid. Construction is expected to start in 2026.