Groton — If taxpayers wait to invest in the schools, interest rates will rise, state reimbursement likely will fall, buildings will only get older and the cost to taxpayers will increase, Craig Koehler, co-chairman of the Groton 2020 Schools political action committee, said Tuesday.

Koehler, co-chairman Lenny Winkler, School Facilities Initiative Task Force Committee member Jane Dauphinais and Superintendent Michael Graner made their case for supporting the upcoming school referendum during a meeting with The Day editorial board.

The plan would build one new middle school adjacent to Robert E. Fitch High School, renovate and convert the two existing middle schools into elementary schools and close three of Groton's oldest buildings — Claude Chester, S.B. Butler and Pleasant Valley elementary schools.

The referendum will ask voters to approve the full $184 million cost of the plan, but Groton taxpayers would shoulder about $84 million of that total.

The remaining $100 million would be paid for by the state, provided Groton is deemed to have a school out of racial balance as of Oct. 1.

Based on enrollment data so far, Superintendent Michael Graner said he feels confident that Claude Chester Elementary School will be out of racial balance on that date.

Based on Groton's median home value of $223,800, which is assessed at a lower amount of $156,000, the school project would cost an average of $194 annually, or 53 cents a day, Koehler said.

The political action committee Groton Advocates for Tax Efficiency opposes the plan.

"It's very expensive and I don't think the taxpayers can afford it," co-founder Rosanne Kotowski said.  "It's $250 per $100,000 of assessed value at peak. That's a very, very expensive project."

"The second thing we're trying to figure out is, what problem are they trying to solve? They're spending the money on the middle school but the racial imbalance is at the elementary school," she said.

The most recent school to have a racial imbalance was Claude Chester Elementary School.

Kotowksi said she's advocated for "sister schools" to solve the imbalance.

That system would merge the students from two schools, such as Northeast Academy and Claude Chester, and make one school a kindergarten to grade 2 school and the other a grade 3 to 5 school.

Groton Advocates for Tax Efficiency co-founder Scott Aument said the plan hasn't been thought out well enough from the taxpayer's point of view.

"I think we should start out with a smaller project like one elementary school," he said.

Smaller bond amounts have a greater chance at passing a referendum, he said.

The state has not been very forthright about reimbursing towns, so he's skeptical that the money will come through, he said.

He also believes the town should invest more in books and teachers and less in buildings.

Winkler said she understands the concern about cost. But if taxpayers don't support new construction, which the state will help pay for, they'll spend millions just to make the old schools functional, she said.

The estimated cost of bringing the schools up to code is about $64 million.

"I don't think the people realize, it's going to cost them something," Winkler said. "It's either going to cost them $64 million to renovate — and that's minimum, because that's going to be done over time."

Pleasant Valley and S.B. Butler elementary schools and both middle schools have portable classrooms that are more than 30 years old, Koehler said.

Pleasant Valley also needs a new heating system, structural repairs, air conditioning and ventilation improvements and work to close dirt crawl spaces, he said.

Claude Chester needs security and fire suppression systems, a new heating system and air conditioning and ventilation improvements.

None of Groton's three oldest schools is handicapped accessible.

The three elementary schools slated to close, which are an average of 62 years old, also contain asbestos and other hazardous chemicals, Dauphinais said.

"Two consultants actually about 10 years apart have told us never open up the walls at S.B. Butler," she said.

If the town decided to renovate the elementary schools instead, students would need somewhere to go, Koehler said. Claude Chester would have to move 330 to 340 students. 

"We wouldn't have the capacity to put them in other schools, unless we'd be jamming them into these other schools," he said.

The elementary schools also would need additions, Dauphinais added.

The Groton 2020 Schools plan would meet the state's mandate for racial balance, modernize the schools and increase educational opportunities for students, Koehler said.

Middle school students would have equal access to academic programs, advanced courses, extracurricular activities and interscholastic and intramural sports because all would be in one middle school, according to a summary of the plan.

Elementary students would have access to two new magnet programs.

"What people have to do at the end of the day is step back and say, despite (their) concern over one aspect of the plan, does the overall plan make sense?" Koehler said.

d.straszheim@theday.com