CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state School Building Authority will continue to hear proposals Tuesday from the remaining 11 out of 20 counties seeking funds for their construction projects.
SBA Executive Director David Snead said the competition is tough since they only have a certain amount of money to distribute.
“We only have around $50 million to hand out, so that always creates a problem for us,” Snead said at Monday’s meeting at the West Virginia Lottery Building in Charleston. “We have to defer some projects to the next year, those kind of things.”
On Monday, Blaine Hess, the superintendent of Jackson County schools, presented a $13.3 million dollar plan which includes the construction of a new Ravenswood Middle School to replace the current school. He said the county would provide $3.1 million in local funds, leaving a $10.2 million request that is before the SBA.
“This is a different plan from the previous years. Again, we’ve looked at the enrollments at our schools as well as increased our local match significantly, so we believe that we’ve really honed this project down to make it one that will be of much interest to the SBA,” said Hess about their plan that was rejected last year.
Hess said there’s a lot of safety concerns they need to address.
“The new plan would actually allow much of the Ravenswood High School campus to be under one roof, so that that would be a great improvement to school safety in Jackson County,” he said.
Jackson County’s plan would also enhance academic programs, in terms of technology, if students were to be placed in newer facilities, Hess said.
The Harrison County school system is also looking to secure funding from the SBA for their project. Harrison School Superintendent Mark Manchin presented their plan Monday to the SBA which includes the building of a new Johnson Elementary School in Bridgeport. The current facility is nearly 65 years old.
“We’re excited about this opportunity,” Manchin said about the $17 million project. “We’re going to be providing $6 million, which is a little more than 35 percent of the whole project.”
Health and safety is a big concern for Harrison’s project, but Manchin said their plan really focuses on what a newer facility would provide.
“These older buildings, these 60, 70 and 80 year old buildings that still exist here in West Virginia don’t have the infrastructure available to provide high speed Internet access. It just simply doesn’t provide the same quality of education that the newer buildings do,” he said.
The SBA also heard requests Monday from county school systems in Doddridge, Tucker, Wirt, Pocahontas, Barbour, Braxton and Calhoun.
On Tuesday, Fayette County School Superintendent Terry George will be the first county to present its plan to the SBA. The plan was reconsidered Monday after it was rejected in September.
Snead said there are still some questions with Fayette’s plan, which would combine four of the county’s five high schools, but they want to remain fair to all 20 counties.
“I think if we can get all of the concerns behind us, they have as good a chance as all the other counties. They’ll (the other counties) have the same opportunities as all the rest of them,” he said.
The counties left to present their proposals on Tuesday also include Kanawha, Monongalia, Logan, Mason, Pleasants, Mercer, Ohio, Webster, Roane and Raleigh.
Final decisions on which projects to fund will be announced next month.