The Jan. 20, 2022, Special Town Meeting approved a maximum budget for the new middle school of $102,816,000, which would make the new school Concord’s largest ever capital project. Also, unlike the new high school, which was partially funded with state funds, the middle school would be financed entirely by Concord taxpayers.
At the upcoming Jan. 19 Special Town Meeting, voters will be asked to approve increasing the maximum project budget to $110,016,000.
Ideally the funding decisions of a project of this size and importance would be decided at a well-attended town meeting at which a wide variety of points of view are represented and discussed.
Unfortunately, however, only 515 registered voters, or just 4.5 percent of Concord’s 11,496 total registered voters, attended the Jan. 20, 2022, Special Town Meeting.
The middle school project will affect Concord profoundly, and it is critical that the final decisions of the school’s size and financing represent a broad community consensus. It is therefore particularly important that as many Concordians as possible attend the Special Town Meeting on Jan. 19 and let their views be heard.
Bruce Kohler
1061 Monument St.
