Answer: The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is a government authority created to reform the process of funding capital improvement projects in the Commonwealth's public schools. The MSBA strives to work with local communities to create affordable, sustainable, and energy-efficient schools across Massachusetts, providing funding assistance to communities accepted into the program via one penny of the state’s 6.25% sales tax.

Established in 2004, the MSBA has made more than $18.9 billion in reimbursements to cities, towns, and regional school districts for school construction projects, with over 1,200 projects invited into its pipeline to date.

The MSBA process requires multiple detailed design submissions and MSBA approvals along the way to ensure projects are being built in accordance with modern standards; please see our project schedule for specifics. For more information about the MSBA, please refer to www.massschoolbuildings.org/about.

Partnering with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) provides significant benefits for towns and school districts by helping fund the construction and renovation of public school facilities. Through its grant programs, the MSBA can reimburse a substantial portion of eligible project costs, reducing the financial burden on local taxpayers. The source of MSBA funding is 1 cent of the sales tax charged in Massachusetts.

For a project of this scale, Triton can expect significant funding assistance for the building project, with a preliminary MSBA reimbursement rate set at 47.84% of eligible project costs. However, we expect that will tick up slightly into the lower 50+% range through various incentive points we expect to achieve through sustainability design choices and the district's robust maintenance practices. These will be confirmed in the design process underway now through the 2026/2027 school year. The actual reimbursement the District receives will be determined once the project scope and budget is approved.

The partnership also gives districts access to expert guidance in planning, design, project management, and cost control, helping ensure projects are completed efficiently and responsibly.

Note: The reimbursement is on eligible expenses, and not all expenses. For example, while academic classrooms are reimbursable, district administration spaces are not.

Answer: The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding assistance program is competitive, with many schools in the commonwealth applying for limited openings each year to address their schools’ major deficiencies. Triton was accepted into the funding assistance program after three applications due to the many issues with the existing school, including but not limited to:

• Educational spaces are well undersized compared to current space standards
• Major mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems are beyond their useful life, making it increasing challenging to operate and maintain
• Building envelope (Roofs, walls, windows, etc.) is beyond its useful life and actively failing, leading to leaks and regular impacts to learning environments
• Building negatively impacts ability to deliver TRSD’s desired educational program
• Building layout does not lead to equitable experience for MS and HS students

Answer: PMA Consultants was selected as the Owner’s Project Manager in January 2026. As Owner’s Project Manager, PMA Consultants will represent and protect Triton’s interests throughout the MSBA process. PMA Consultants brings extensive experience supporting MSBA-funded K–12 school projects across Massachusetts, and PMA’s North Shore team for Triton has previously worked together on the Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School, Saugus Middle-High School, Somerville High School, Danvers Smith Elementary School, and Northeast Metro Tech High School Projects. To learn more about PMA Consultants, visit: https://pmaconsultants.com/services/project-management/.

Answer: Dore + Whittier Architects was selected as the Project Designer in April 2026. Dore + Whittier's Newburyport office is located just 6.5 miles from the Triton campus, and the firm brings direct, relevant experience to this project, having previously designed the Pine Grove School renovation in Rowley, as well as more than 20 MSBA core program projects across Massachusetts, including the Pentucket Regional Middle/High School in neighboring West Newbury.

For more information about Dore + Whittier, visit their website: www.doreandwhittier.com

Answer: In the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding assistance process, the School Building Committee (SBC) is responsible for generally spearheading the project on behalf of Triton RSD. The SBC will oversee the work of the project team from design through construction, including hosting public meetings to discuss the project/seek public input, reviewing and approving all MSBA submissions, authorizing approval of all payments, and ultimately selecting the District’s preferred student enrollment and construction option.

The SBC consists of School Administration (Superintendent of Schools, District Facilities Manager, Director of Finance & Operations, MS Principal, HS Principal), two School Committee members, Triton MS teacher & Triton HS teacher (nominated by staff), 2 Triton HS students (nominated by Student Council), 1 MS Parent & 1 HS Parent (nominated by each School Council), Town Officials from Newbury, Rowley, and Salisbury, and community members with architecture, construction, or engineering experience.

You can view the current members of the SBC by clicking here.

For a regional school district such as Triton, a major school building project must move through a multi-step public approval process before construction can begin. The first step is the development of a preferred solution and project budget, which is currently underway as part of the MSBA process. District and MSBA officials are working together to evaluate options, refine the project scope, and develop schematic designs that will ultimately define both the educational program and the estimated cost of the project. The preferred solution, along with schematic design plans and budget figures, is expected to be finalized and presented to the public in the spring of 2027.

Once the schematic design and budget are approved, each member town in the Triton Regional School District must vote to authorize its share of the project cost at a local Town Meeting. In cooperation with town officials, these Town Meeting votes are currently targeted for November 2027. Approval requires a simple majority vote, and all three member communities, Newbury, Rowley, and Salisbury, must approve the borrowing authorization before the project can advance to the next stage.

Given that our member towns are not able to incur the cost of a new building in general operating budgets, in addition to Town Meeting approval, each town must also hold a ballot election where voters consider a debt exclusion override under Proposition 2½. A debt exclusion allows a community to raise property taxes temporarily to fund its share of the school construction project without affecting the town's permanent tax levy limit. This mechanism is commonly used for large capital projects because it provides a dedicated funding source for the life of the debt while keeping the increase separate from the town's ongoing operating budget.

For the project to proceed, both levels of approval are required in all three communities. That means the district must secure six successful votes in total: a Town Meeting approval vote and a debt exclusion ballot vote in Newbury, Rowley, and Salisbury. This process ensures that residents have multiple opportunities to review the proposal, understand the educational benefits and financial impacts, ask questions, and ultimately decide whether to support this significant long-term investment in the future of Triton students and the three communities the district serves.

Answer:  Starting in September 2026, the design team will be presenting building construction options for grades 6-12 and 7-12 enrollments for discussion and consideration. From September 2026 through January 2027, the SBC will be working to establish evaluation criteria and thoroughly vet the options against each other to determine which is most advantageous for Triton. Evaluation criteria will include, but will not be limited to, the ability of each option to satisfy the District’s long-term education plan, the total cost, how the site is utilized once construction is complete, and the associated disruption to existing operations during construction. As of this writing in August 2026, the evaluation criteria are under initial development, and the SBC will be actively seeking community feedback to help make their decision from September 2026 through January 2027.

Answer: Please share your feedback by attending a community information/feedback sharing session that will be posted on the project calendar, or by emailing the School Building Committee at [email protected]

Answer: Please see the project timeline tab on the project website for more detail, but at a high level, the milestones are:

• Preliminary Design Work - 2026 to Spring, 2027
• Confirmation of Design Choice - Spring, 2027
• Town Vote for project - November 2027
• Building Construction - Late 2028 through Late 2031

Answer:  Triton was originally organized as a 'Superintendency Union' in the 1960's, with each town having its own PK through grade 6 elementary school, and then students would attend Triton Regional Junior and Senior High School. Each school/town had it's own school committee and governance, though they shared a single superintendent.

The district was fully regionalized as an academic PK-12 district in 1995, unifying the full organization as a single district under one school committee, one superintendent, and a unified purpose. A renovation of the regional campus was completed in 2000, adding an addition to the junior high to make what is now the middle school as well as a high school gymnasium, and the 'middle school model' was implemented. While the model was implemented, it remained a grade 7 and 8 'junior high' configuration, and not a true grade 5 or 6 through 8 solution.

To that end, we committed to studying the viability of bringing grade 6 over to make a more complete middle school experience for our students. While the middle and high schools operate independently, the current building’s inflexible layout and the shared gymnasium, cafeteria, and auditorium spaces - all located within the high school’s boundaries - have made it difficult for the middle school’s students to form their own distinct school identity. And middle school students often perceive, not always incorrectly, that the needs of high school athletes, performers, and elective schedules are placed above theirs in the use of these shared spaces. These challenges to forming an authentic school community are further compounded by the fact that Triton students are only middle schoolers for two years, during which time they are either transitioning into 7th grade from their elementary schools or transitioning out of 8th grade into the high school.

Answer: This project will benefit all students. The existing building is limiting educational opportunities for all students, and a new or renovated building will eliminate this roadblock. While modified special education spaces will indeed provide a more robust solution for our most at-risk students, the daily experience for all students will also be improved through cutting edge learning spaces that stimulate innovation, collaboration, and creative thinking. Students will have additional dedicated spaces for collaborative work, state-of-the-art educational spaces and science labs, technical education spaces, and an improved educational environment to thrive in.

Answer: These goals will be outlined in the "Educational Plan", which is part of the "Preliminary Design Program" (PDP) that is being developed currently. It is set to be finalized in late September, and approved by the School Committee on September 16, 2026, and then submitted to the MSBA with other relevant information on preliminary design options and high level ideas by mid October.

Regarding the types of goals, the plan does not delineate educational and overall project goals separately, as the building project is designed to deliver a school facility that provides the space that ensures the vision and goals we have set for educating our students can happen.

Answer:  Yes, we believe that providing accessibility to everyone for these sessions is a vital component of the building planning. To that end, we do anticipate live streaming information and feedback sessions, and you can find prior events on the Project YouTube Channel. However, while we do intend to stream the public feedback sessions this fall, it is often difficult to read/respond to remote feedback in a live session. So remote viewers will not be able to provide live feedback and interaction during the sessions, but feedback can be submitted by anyone at any time by emailing [email protected]. Further, the project team is working to identify dedicated remote-only feedback opportunities for the public, but we have not confirmed such options at this time.

Answer:  While our member towns are part of the Whittier Regional School District, their project and ours are not connected in any way, so the project itself has no direct impact on ours.