CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia School Building Authority continues to work behind the scenes on a possible change in the way school construction projects are funded.
The SBA’s Construction Committee met recently to continue discussions on possibly recommending a change in the current square footage allowance for projects.
The agency’s square footage allowance for building schools has been around $307 per square foot since 2019 but the actual cost to build schools these days is significantly more expensive after covid and inflation.
SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune said the agency is trying to determine a more realistic cost.
“We’re trying to find a comparable number that we’ll be able to work with because we’re faced with the fact that supplemental funding is coming back to us,” Neptune said.
The SBA has had to add money to a number of projects in recent months because the original amount of money awarded wasn’t enough because of increasing costs due to inflation and other factors. The SBA has almost handed out enough in supplemental funding to build another school, according to Neptune.
The SBA gave the okay to supplemental funding for schools in Wood, Mercer, McDowell and Hampshire counties back in March totaling approximately $38 million.
The legislature approved $40 million in additional funding for the SBA from state budget surplus funds.
Neptune said it would be in everyone’s best interest to come up a with a truer square footage rate on the front end.
“We do want to try and get where the market is and we continue to look at all of the different angles that are involved in that,” he said. “There’s just so many different angles that we’ve really tried to slow down and look at it, so that when we do come up with a number we hope it sets it at a level that will help the School Building Authority with funding in the future.”
The SBA is scheduled hear from county school superintendents on Nov. 13-14 in Charleston. The school chiefs will be presenting the projects they hope the SBA will fund in the next NEEDs funding cycle. The SBA will make its decisions in December. Neptune said the $307 per square foot rate will still be in effect when the projects are chosen. He said a change could possibly come next year.
There’s also the chance the legislature could increase funding to the SBA.
“They (the legislature) want to see due diligence on our part as well,” Neptune said. “We are hopeful that they will take into consideration on down the road that there may be some change in funding they provide.”
The square footage allowance to build new schools was $256 beginning in 2013. The increase to $307 in 2019 represented a 20% increase. Neptune said a final decision hasn’t been made on the percentage of increase that will be considered for approval in the coming months.