CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With nearly 30 counties requesting specific amounts of the remaining $54 million the School Building Authority has to give this year, and about five of them needing to build a brand new school, SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune says they will have a lot to sort through.
The SBA is hearing presentations from a total of 28 county school districts from across the state at its headquarters in Charleston for the next two days, giving each the opportunity to present on why they need the funding for schools in their districts and what their specific project plans are.
Neptune said the challenge, though, is that the $54 million the SBA has to give before the end of the year is less than 25% of the total dollars the counties are seeking, as it’s a little over $250 million in requests.
Kanawha County Schools, one of the few looking to build a brand new school in their county, was the first to present to the SBA Monday morning.
Tom Williams
The Kanawha County School Board is proposing to build a new eastern-end elementary school consolidating Belle Elementary, Malden, Midland Trail, and Mary Ingles Elementary schools.
Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Tom Williams said the total cost of the project is just over $30 million, and while the board has been able to contribute $10 million to the project, they are asking $20 million from the SBA.
“I know they have a lot to listen to over the next two days, so I’m thankful for the opportunity,” Williams told MetroNews upon presenting to the SBA Monday.
In October, the board hosted a series of school closure/ consolidation meetings where they invited the public to attend to give them a chance to share their feelings and opinions on the matter.
Williams said while much of the public has voiced stances against the endeavor, the school board is having to make adjustments to the changing population and economic landscape in the county.
“Our population continues to decline in Kanawha County, and we can no longer afford to operate as many facilities as we have, so we have to look at consolidation,” he said.
The board has already voted to close the four elementary schools.
Williams said the new school would take in around 600 students right from its initial opening.
He said it would be essential to the students in the eastern part of Kanawha County as the educational landscape changes as well.
“It would be a modern facility where we would be able to do STEM project-based learning activities with our kids to get them actively involved,” Williams said. “You know, kids now days can’t just sit and get anymore, they are active and like to participate, and project-based learning is a good way for them to do that.”
Neptune said that Kanawha County definitely presents a good case as they navigate such a transitionary time for schools in the county.
“They have been vehemently working towards this project with their school closures, it has been very tough times to get those through, but it’s a great project that we’re looking at,” Neptune said.
However, he said Putnam County also has a good case for funding for their new school proposal as well.
John Hudson
Putnam County voters approved a multi-million dollar bond on Election Day for the construction of a new Hurricane Middle School.
The Putnam School Board now has $40 million to be used for the project, but is seeking an additional $25 million from the SBA.
Putnam County Schools Superintendent John Hudson said the current Hurricane Middle School was built in 1950, so there’s a definite need in the community for a new middle school.
He said they already have all of the logistics worked out for the project, which would provide much more convenience for the students, staff, and community as a whole.
“It’s close proximity to Route 34, we already have the property that was purchased beside Hurricane High School that would allow us to move the new Hurricane Middle School back off of Teays Valley Road, Route 34,” he said. “It will have a dedicated bus loop and a dedicated parking drop off for our families.”
He said it will also create a much more expanded curricular and extra-curricular activities space for the students.
Hudson was just about to present the request to the SBA Monday when he spoke with MetroNews. He said he feels confident about it.
“I feel very good about our project, it’s just a great project and the School Building Authority has worked with us every step of the way, the whole process for multiple months in looking at the project, what we needed to do, so I feel really good about it,” Hudson said.
Many of the county school boards, however, are simply looking for funding to improve safety standards to existing facilities, such as through safe school entrances, which will not cost as much money to render.
Marion County Schools Superintendent Donna Heston said they are asking the SBA for funding for safe school entrances, or mantraps for nine of their facilities. She said the total cost for the project is $3.6 million and are asking the SBA for $2.7 million.
Donna Heston
During the election in May Heston said the Marion County School Board sought voters’ approval on a $19.9 million bond.
She said while the bond didn’t pass, they noticed school safety improvements were a popular item among voters, and mantraps are very much needed to improve their school safety standards.
“Currently we only have one mantrap in all of our facilities and this would bring us up to having 50-percent of schools with those mantraps,” Heston said. “This is an opportunity for us to seek that SBA funding to provide a more safe and secure learning environment for our students.”
Heston said mantraps are a new safety standard currently being used in every modern school building.
“It’s important to us and it has been one of our initiatives over the last couple of years to do assessments on our facilities, look at ways that we can make them more sound and secure, and the mantrap is definitely a feasible model that’s used across the country,” Heston said.
Lincoln County Schools as well as Grant County Schools were among other counties seeking funding from the SBA for safe school entryways.
Andy Neptune (WVSBA)
Neptune said the SBA will have a lot to negotiate and take back to the drawing board after hearing all of the counties’ requests both Monday and Tuesday.
He said the new school requests would use up the $54 million they have to spare, but they are ready to do what they can to make the dollars stretch where needed.
“We know the numbers and we know what’s coming, and so we as a team here at the SBA start to look at how we can stretch those numbers in the direction we would like to go,” Neptune said.
Neptune said it’s not unusual to stretch those requests out to multi-year funding projects.
The funding decisions will be announced at the SBA’s Dec. 16 meeting in Charleston.