Committee hears Boston’s MSBA statement of interest for Melvin H. King South End Academy

Boston Public Schools officials on Thursday asked the Boston City Council Ways and Means Committee to support a statement of interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for Melvin H. King South End Academy, a special-education day school that the district plans to consolidate onto its Warren Avenue site.

Dela Verne Stanislaus, chief of capital planning for Boston Public Schools, told the committee the district is submitting a 2026 MSBA core-program SOI for the Melvin H. King South End Academy. Stanislaus said the MSBA reimburses municipalities for a portion of large renovation or new-construction projects and, if the SOI is accepted, the school would be placed on a path toward a significant capital investment.

Stanislaus said enrollment at Melvin H. King has fallen from around 300 students in 2020 to about 160 in 2023 and is projected to be near 65 students in 2026–27 as the district shifts some younger students to neighborhood schools and strengthens therapeutic supports. The district is asking the MSBA to plan for a future capacity of about 100 students and intends to consolidate operations into a single Warren Avenue campus in the South End next school year.

Eneta Tavares, assistant director of project controls and compliance for the Public Facilities Department, described the application as part of the city’s ongoing partnership with the MSBA and said the core-program process will include community engagement, selection of an owner’s project manager and architect, and multiple years of design and permitting before construction could begin.

BPS staff outlined next steps: the committee’s support vote, a school-community presentation scheduled that evening, and an SOI submission on Friday, April 17, after which MSBA review would likely proceed through the summer with decisions later in 2026. Chair Weber told the committee they intend to bring docket 0763 up for a formal vote later in the meeting; no vote was recorded during the hearing.

During public testimony, Gregory Maynard, executive director of the Boston Policy Institute, urged the council to hold a standalone hearing on BPS’s long-term facilities plan and criticized the timing of the SOI. "This is a rushed last minute application for a project that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars," Maynard said, noting the April 17 deadline and pointing to capital-budget entries that list $500,000 for the Mel King renovation and $276,650 already spent.

BPS officials responded that the district continues to fund near-term envelope and repair work while pursuing MSBA opportunities because the MSBA core process can take several years. A senior BPS official said the capital budget includes placeholder funding for immediate repairs and that, if the district advances through MSBA eligibility and approvals, further project funding requests would return to the council in later capital budgets.

The committee heard questions from councilors about which site the application covers (BPS confirmed the South End/Warren Avenue site), how students will be supported during the multi-year process and whether the city would move forward without MSBA approval. BPS said staff would discuss additional student-support measures in follow-up briefings and that if the MSBA does not invite the project, the city and district would evaluate whether to proceed independently or resubmit a future application.

The hearing closed with the chair announcing the docket will be scheduled for a vote later in the meeting; the SOI submission deadline to the MSBA was given as April 17.