Whittier School Building Project

Election Information

The District-Wide Special Election will be held on January 23, 2024 from 11:00 am-7:00 pm. The warrant for the election can be found here. Residents will vote at their usual polling places for this election, and the polling place locations can be found here.*

*Due to recent weather conditions, all Plum Island residents residing in Newburyport should report to the People’s United Methodist Church on 64 Purchase Street to vote in the special January 23rd election.

Absentee voting information can be found here. Please note there will be no early voting for this election.

The last day to register to vote for the January 23rd election was Saturday, January 13, 2024. Registration for future elections can be completed online here.

Background Information

The School Committee of the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School is proposing a new school building project in order to better serve its students now and in the years to come. Newburyport is one of the member communities, and sends students to Whittier every year. The building was originally constructed in 1973, and needs significant infrastructure upgrades and code-related improvements. The School Committee, working through a Building Committee, has weighed the options of renovating the current building and building a new school. They are recommending building a new school because of the availability of funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and the assessment that the overall cost for communities will be lower if they pursue a new school. This does depend on the amount of state support and the size and sequence of renovations planned. You can learn more about the plan here: https://buildingthefutureofwhittier.org/

The current project plan is estimated to cost approximately $445 million. While Newburyport has 29 students at Whittier, the capital costs for each member community are calculated based on the enrollment of students in a municipality in all of their schools, public and private included. This would mean Newburyport’s contribution would be about $31M up front for this project which would total close to $61M in expenses for the City over the life of the bond. Newburyport has no capability to fund this project from its operating budget unless it were to undertake massive budget cuts to essential services, so a bond would be necessary. These additional expenses are estimated to cost the average single-family home owner around an additional $274 a year.

The Whittier School Committee voted on December 13^th to authorize a district-wide election that will take place January 23^rd. This vote will bind all member communities to the costs of the project, should it be successful. The polling hours will be between 11 AM and 7 PM. The result of the anticipated district-wide vote will be based on the aggregate total votes cast in all communities and requires only a simple majority for passage.