Framingham To Ask Feds For $61M To Create Early Education Center

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham City Council will consider asking the federal government for $61 million to construct a citywide early childhood learning center, which would be part of an ongoing process to build a new elementary school south of Route 9.

The Council will vote Tuesday to send a letter to U.S. Rep. Kathryn Clark (D-Framingham) and U.S. Sens Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren asking for a federal earmark for the learning center. In the letter, the Council cites the high rate of Framingham students — about 26 percent — entering kindergarten each year with no preschool experience.

"Too many of our children start out behind and consequently, too many never catch up," Council Chair George King wrote in the letter, which would be sent on behalf of the entire Council. "Investing in high-quality early childhood education gives all kids the start they need to succeed. With early childhood education, our children will be better prepared for success."

For more than a year, Framingham school officials have been seriously studying a new elementary school south of Route 9 to replace Hemenway Elementary, which is near the end of its useful life. In January, the School Committee voted to enter the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding process in pursuit of a new building, possibly on a piece of land along Bethany Road. Only three of Framingham's nine elementary schools are south of Route 9, even though a majority of elementary students live on the south side.

If the district pursues a new elementary school at the Bethany Road site, that would leave the Hemenway site open for either a renovation or a new building for an early learning center.

An architectural firm hired by the district estimated in an April 2020 report that an entirely new early learning center would cost $61 million to build. The early learning center would be able to hold about 500 pre-K and kindergarten students, the report said.

The Council's letter asks for funding via the earmarking process, where individual members of Congress use legislation to pay for local projects.