What’s the Cost of Updating Southwest Connecticut Schools?

School facilities’ needs are quite documented and many community leaders say they’re extremely necessary. However, the cost to make the improvements is steep. Based on the facilities plans from around southwest Connecticut, making the proper infrastructure investments will cost more than an estimated $2.5 billion. 

But as some districts, particularly Stamford, have seen, that number is likely an underestimate as construction costs have skyrocketed. With projects costing more than ever, some officials worry that not all the work will be possible.

Stamford Board of Finance member Mary Lou Rinaldi expressed her frustration in particular with the escalating cost of the Westhill High School project and its impact on the overall school facilities’ plan.

“I find this whole process just abysmal,” she said at the August Board of Finance meeting. “It took two years to figure out that the number that the administration and the Board of Education gave us was not going to be enough—that was the number we committed to. I have no trust or confidence in this process… I’m not committing to anything beyond the $300 million [the original projection for the project.] This is just a runaway and if Westhill is this far off what are the other schools going to be?”

A Look Inside the Increasingly Expensive Westhill High School 

Westhill High School was initially projected to cost about $301 million to replace, according to the 2021 long-range facilities plan put together by the district. That was the number the city asked the state to provide reimbursement for, and the number many officials relied on as they projected budgets for the upcoming year.

The proposal called for building a new school that could hold more than 2,400 students. The plans call for design work to take place through 2024, with some early construction activities beginning in 2025 and full construction underway in 2026, with a goal of opening the school in 2029.

In July, however, school officials reported that the total cost of the project had ballooned to more than $460 million. It actually had initially gone up to more than $500 million, but school officials said they asked the consultants to revise the project’s size and reduce it as much as they could while keeping the educational needs in tact. 

To some extent, the community planned for the fact that this project and its other school improvements plans would be expensive. Stamford—along with Norwalk— received additional support from the state to make their school construction projects possible. In 2022, the state approved an 80% reimbursement rate for Westhill High School in Stamford and for Norwalk High School, much higher than the average reimbursement rate for schools, which is about 20 to 30%. In addition, besides the special rates for those two projects, the cities received a 60% reimbursement for all school construction projects over the next 25 years, again much higher than the usual rate. 

Officials touted these reimbursement rates as essential to helping improve these school districts’ buildings. 

"This is more than replacing windows and furnaces, it's a comprehensive plan to renovate schools as new and rebuild them for our teachers and our students to meet the expectations set in place," Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, who represents Norwalk, said in a statement. "We haven't been able to invest in our schools in a long time and that is why this is a huge deal. We are making an investment that will ultimately provide greater success for our students." 

Both Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and Superintendent Tamu Lucero said this would help make facility improvements possible. 

“This is incredible news for the City of Stamford and Stamford Public Schools,” Simmons said in a statement. “This increase in school construction funding will impact Stamford students, teachers, and staff for years to come and provide a modern and healthy learning environment that students deserve.”

Lucero added that the funding “allows us to improve our facilities and give students, teachers, staff, and our community the modern campuses we need to prepare our students for tomorrow’s success.”

However, that approval was for those original designs. Stamford will need to submit a new application for reimbursement once a contract with a new estimated cost based on updated designs if the number stays higher than the initial $302 million projection. 

Katherine LoBalbo, the district's director of school construction, told the Board of Finance in August that in 2022 the estimates for a 459,893 square foot building were about $655 per square foot, which has now grown to $1,013 per square foot

Adam Levitus, a senior project manager at Colliers, an engineering firm working on the project, said the higher cost was due to increased costs from inflation, as well as the difference between an estimate and the actual designed building.

“They conducted a feasibility study—it’s a paper study, it's not based on a detailed design,” Levitus said to the board, adding that they don’t have all the details that went into that study. “We know that the abatement and demolition scope definitely increased since that time.” 

However, members of the Board of Finance pushed back strongly at their meeting in August, arguing that inflation and increased prices could account for some increases, but not one this high.

“I’m having a hard time understanding how we got from $301 to somewhere in the mid-$400s,” board member J.R. McMullen said. “I could understand a 30% increase for the increase in building materials, the increase in time, what I can't accept and what I can't get over is the 65 to 70% increase, it makes no sense.” 

Other members questioned some of the numbers that made up the estimate, in particular having more than $90 million set aside for contingency, meaning extra dollars to cover issues that came up during construction.

“We sort of estimate our contingencies into not being able to do the project or estimating the project into something more expensive than it’s going to be,” Board of Finance Chair Richard Freedman said. “It’s a huge number.”

Still, one of the biggest lines of questioning centered around comparing Westhill’s projected costs to those for Norwalk High School. 

“Are they providing an inferior experience for their students? Are they cramming them into classrooms and lunchrooms and auditoriums or can a high school reasonably be assumed to be built at the 160 ish square feet per student like Norwalk?” Stamford Board of Finance member Dennis Mahoney asked with a note of sarcasm. “Why isn't the educational community up in Norwalk up in arms that they're building such a small, tight, insufficient, inferior building on a per square foot basis? I mean, I'm not [trying to be], well I am a little funny, but I just it's just an answer I'd love to have.”

A Look Inside the Plans for Norwalk High School

Just a few communities over, Norwalk is also building a new high school for its students. The plans call for a building that would house about 2,000 students, across 332,000+ square feet. The initially proposed cost for the project—and the one the city submitted to the state for its reimbursement request—was about $239 million. 

However, officials do expect that number to go up slightly, but at a much smaller amount than Westhill. In August, Alan Lo, the city’s building and facilities manager told the Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Common Council that he projected the high school would increase by about 4% or just under $10 million. 

“The only variable here is what we found underground, which is potentially polluted or contaminated soil or a structural issue we didn't anticipate,” he said. “When you look at the budget, we anticipate that this project will need an additional about 4% more. We are using our contingency to cover some of these costs. We are very comfortable where we are in terms of overall project costs.”

Earlier in the meeting, Lo also reported that they were just wrapping up the new Cranbury School project which was expected to come in about $1.4 million under budget. 

Norwalk council member Greg Burnett questioned the numbers, citing the Westhill situation.

“They seemed to be caught off guard in terms of the inflated costs to build that school,” Burnett said. “How confident [are we] that we’re not going to face that same situation here with Norwalk High? What’s our level of comfort that the numbers we currently have are not going to skyrocket?”

Comparing Norwalk High School and Westhill High School

While both projects are high schools, there are some differences, Lo noted. Norwalk High School is projected to be a bit smaller and serve fewer students. But the biggest factor Lo noted is the timing. Construction is already underway at NHS, while real construction at Westhill is projected to start in 2026.

“Our project started already and everything is contracted so those numbers are fixed,” Lo said. 

But with the two cities so close together, Stamford officials questioned why their project had a dramatically larger price tag?

Lo did note that the demolition of the old building has not been bid yet so that would be a separate cost. He projected they would go out to bid for that in two to three years. 

Stamford’s consultants estimated that with the demolition costs, Norwalk High School would end up around $273 million, compared to the current projected cost of $461 million for Westhill.

“We're back to the $100 million problem,” Board of Finance member J.R. McMullen said. “If the [$239 million] is coming up to 273 and I uplift Norwalk by 20% which is the difference in the student population—you only add $60 million to that number. So, I'll be generous and say $340 million. Where's the other $120 million going for Stamford?”

Matthew Quinones, the director of operations for Stamford, said at the Board of Finance’s September meeting that the city estimated they would have updated Westhill numbers in January/February when the design for the high school was fully developed. 

“Major areas of focus include identifying alternatives to the current natatorium [or swimming] program, further reductions in overall square footage, and an aggressive approach to reduce the project’s timeline to eliminate further cost escalations,” he said. 

Lo noted that while he didn’t know the specifics of the Stamford project, seeing that kind of an increase is “frightening.” 

“We are holding on a good path to continue to move forward,” he said. 

Learn more about the impacts of these costs in part 3.