West Bridgewater School Building Committee Unanimously Approves $169.6 Million Project Budget

WEST BRIDGEWATER — October 7, 2025 — West Bridgewater School Building Committee sets $169.6 million new-school budget in 14-0 vote. The committee voted unanimously Tuesday to establish a total project budget of $169,640,388 for the proposed new elementary school at the Rose L. MacDonald site, with a district share estimated at $97.5 million after roughly $72 million in anticipated Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement. Two independent cost estimators — PM&C for the designer and Durham for the owner's project manager — reconciled at $131 million in construction costs, finishing just 0.35 percent apart after a six-hour line-by-line review. About $42 million of total project costs are ineligible for reimbursement, primarily because the MSBA caps building construction costs at $586 per square foot against the project's estimated $800 per square foot. The committee also debated a between-meeting change to the school's toilet room design — reverting from an open-plan concept to a traditional corridor layout — with one member calling it "strange" that a feature "sold as a safety concern" was revised without a committee vote. A community forum is planned for November 6, and the committee's next formal vote to authorize the full schematic design submission to the MSBA is scheduled for October 21.