Milton Schools · Capital Improvement Planning Committee Meeting Transcript
Milton Seeks State Study of a PreK/K School, Labouré Included
303 Adams St · Capital Improvement Planning Committee · Oct 30, 2026
Milton wants the state to study a PreK/K school alongside its other options, at Labouré or any other site.
- The request: town officials have been talking with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) about adding a PreK/K early childhood center to Milton's state-aided school study, Town Administrator Nick Milano told the Capital Improvement Planning Committee on Oct 19. The study now covers a K-5 school and a grades 7-8 school, each with PreK.
- What it changes: every option would be compared "side by side with the same architect, the same design team," at Labouré or near the high school off Gile Road, Milano said Oct 19. On Oct 13 he told the Select Board the PreK/K option would be studied at all sites and would not depend on buying Labouré (minutes).
- Timing: the MSBA has indicated it would take up to about 120 days to add the option, Milano said Oct 19, without a substantial change to the overall schedule. The School Committee's Oct 7 slides show the steps: an MSBA board vote sends Milton back to the program's first stage, the town redoes its enrollment analysis and signs off, and a second board vote returns it to the feasibility study with the same team. Milton was not among the MSBA board's Oct 28 votes, and its next meeting is Dec 9.
- Who wants it: School Committee Chair Mark Loring told Town Meeting on Oct 19 that the committee had voted to ask the MSBA to allow a PreK/K study, and that staying in the program keeps state reimbursement possible if the town picks a lower-elementary school. Select Board Chair Winston Daley called it the decision of "the two bodies."
- Why the state: an official speaking at the Oct 19 committee meeting said state oversight is "highly preferable" for "what could end up being a hundred plus million dollar project," in their personal view and, they thought, that of many Select Board members. The meeting's auto-generated transcript does not label speakers.
- Not decided: Loring told Town Meeting that Gile Road is still the primary option and that the School Committee has not chosen a PreK/K program over a middle school. Based on a quick study by DLR Group, he said, a PreK/K center would ease about as much crowding as a grades 7-8 school.
- Next: the School Building Committee meets Nov 2 at 7pm (515 Canton Ave and Zoom). Its agenda, posted Oct 29, lists an "MSBA Labouré and Pre-K & K Enrollment Update," MSBA design options and an introduction to DLR Group. Voters decide the Labouré purchase Dec 15. The Select Board expects a site decision in summer 2027 (Oct 6 minutes).
- Background: Town Meeting voted 168-45 on Oct 19 to buy the Labouré campus for $11.75 million and sent Article 7, $1.2 million for a separate Labouré school design, back to the Select Board, as the Warrant Committee recommended. Loring said the MSBA route made it unnecessary. The School Committee had voted 3-2 on Oct 7 to study a PreK/K center at Labouré. Outside the state program that center was estimated at $83.8 million with no state aid.
Sources: School Building Committee Nov 2 agenda · Capital Improvement Planning Committee meeting video, Oct 19 (Milton Access TV) · Select Board minutes, Oct 13 · School Committee presentation, Oct 7: MSBA and Labouré update
Earlier coverage: Planning Board Wants a Say in Labouré's Future if It Isn't a School (Oct 27, 2026) · Labouré Backers Warned of a 40B, a Familiar Argument in Milton (Oct 24, 2026) · Town Meeting Backs $11.75M Labouré Purchase, 168-45, Over Warnings It Could End the Gile Road School (Oct 20, 2026)