Dighton-Rehoboth Invited to Join MSBA Program

The Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District has been invited into the Eligibility Period by the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) program for a possible building project at Dighton Elementary School (DES).

The announcement was made Wednesday by Superintendent Bill Runey, Dighton Board of Selectmen Chairman Peter Caron, School Committee Chairman Aaron Morse, and Town Administrator Michael Mullen, Jr.

The MSBA voted to invite DES into the Eligibility Period, along with 18 other districts, to partner with school, local and community stakeholders to further explore and assess opportunities to address DES school building and programmatic needs.

“Our schools are a source of great pride for residents, and they support our students, faculty, and staff in many ways,” Runey said. “While this is just the exploratory phase, we are very excited about the prospect of this multi-year process, and look forward to engaging with the Town of Dighton as we move forward.”

Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee Chairman Aaron Morse said that “the District would like to thank the Town of Dighton, the Board of Selectmen, and the members of the School Committee for their support of the Statement of Interest submitted to the MSBA for consideration of a project.”

A Statement of Interest (SOI) was submitted to the MSBA last April by Dighton school and town officials. The SOI outlined overcrowding issues, continual increases in enrollment, and obsolete building space for required education programming at DES, built in 1953 and added onto in 1999.

The Eligibility Period is the first step in applying for building project funding assistance from the MSBA, a state agency that works with communities to support educationally-appropriate, flexible, sustainable, and cost-effective public school facilities. During the 270-day Eligibility Period, the MSBA will work with the District to determine the financial and community readiness to enter the MSBA Capital Pipeline.