Cranston to Buy Tech Ed. School from State for $1

The Cranston Area Career and Technical Center, although connected to and operated by the school district, is technically owned by the State of Rhode Island.

If all goes according to plan, the city will soon be in possession of the school, which needs extensive repairs and renovations.

The City Council later this month will vote on a proposed agreement that would transfer ownership of the school to Cranston for $1. In addition, the city will be given a payment of $3.2 million for improvements and repairs to the school.

The council's Finance Committee voted unanimously last week to OK the deal and sent the matter to the full council for a vote.

Gerald Cordy, the city's director of administration, said the money will be held in reserve and used just for repairs.

Superintendent Peter Nero said that the district negotiated the deal with the state Department of Education over the course of the last year. The $3.2 million figure was settled upon after the district was given a $150,000 grant to conduct studies to see how much a major renovation of CACTC would cost.

He noted that the building would be closed for a year or two during the renovation process. Students will be moved into parts of Cranston West so their programs will continue.

Updated 4:35 p.m.: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the school would close during the renovation. The school will remain operation, but the CATC building will be off-limits during construction. We apologize for the error.