The Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School Committee last week unanimously approved its Building Committee’s recommendation that the region’s five member towns hold another election for the $288,000,000 request for a new facility that failed to pass in November of last year.
The committee endorsed that revote plan at its January 28 meeting, Old Colony Superintendent-Director Aaron Polansky reported Friday. He noted the next step will be the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s approval of the move. He said no exact date of the regional election of the revote has been set.
“Voters should understand that there is no zero-cost option,” Polansky added. “After reviewing several alternatives including a $134,000,000 full repair, decades of incremental repairs, or a smaller project later at significantly higher cost, we determined that a revote is the most fiscally responsible and cost-effective choice. There was a smear campaign that blurred lines and politicized the project. There is nothing political about this project. This project is about educating our students and providing the best fiscal solution available for our taxpayers.”
Both the $288,000,000 request to fund the building project and a proposal to pay for Rochester’s $24,000,000 share of that cost with a debt exclusion resulted in a resounding “no” vote in the November 8, 2025 election. The question to approve the building project failed across four of five Old Colony member towns (Acushnet, Carver, Lakeville, and Rochester), only passing in Mattapoisett.
The money would fund a larger, more modern building to replace the serious infrastructure deficiencies of the current facility at 476 North Avenue in Rochester. The state School Building Authority’s reimbursement for the new school’s price tag is projected to be $129,000,000. The remaining total project cost that the school district members would share was estimated at approximately $159,000,000. Rochester’s portion of that price tag would be $28,400,000.
Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco