CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Education leaders from all around West Virginia are stopping by the state School Building Authority’s office in the Capital City early this week.
Superintendents from 34 counties are making their pitches to the SBA to receive some of the $61 million that will be distributed this year. Seventeen education officials presented before the SBA board on Monday, with 17 more to follow on Tuesday.
SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune told MetroNews it’s an exciting time, all the while there are some tough decisions ahead for the authority. He said requests from these superintendents pile up to “well over triple” the $61 million offered by the SBA.
Leaders from Mingo, Cabell, Jackson, Lincoln, Roane, Mason, Tucker, and Taylor came in Monday morning to make their presentations. Superintendents in Hancock, Lewis, Berkeley, Wyoming, Monongalia, Upshur, Hardy, Pocahontas, and Pendleton filled the Monday afternoon session.
Neptune said there’s many different factors that influence the superintendents’ requests.
“Some of those are bonds that have passed, that are new schools, but most of them are renovations to schools,” Neptune said. “This is the time for our board members to be able to hear and listen to some of those projects and kind of put it together for them before we come back and make the recommendation for what we want to go with in December.”
For the first time in SBA history, Neptune said, the legislature approved $10 million more to go toward these grants. He said that’s an increase from their “traditional” number of $51 million. He said the SBA is thankful to have more money to distribute, but $10 million goes away fast when it comes to renovations in 2026.
As for how the SBA will determine which counties receive funding and which don’t, Neptune pointed to several specific criteria.
“You start to get into the nuts and bolts of their request to see because they come for needs, but yet, sometimes they’re wants,” Neptune said. “So, you have to be able to distinguish the difference between a want and a need. Don’t get me wrong, a want isn’t too far away from a need, if that makes sense. But with the money that we have, we have to get to direct needs.”
West Virginia’s enrollment in public education continues to decline, dropping by more than 8,000 students since last year. Hand in hand with that decline comes school closures and consolidations that county school boards ponder.
Neptune said that facilities are impacted when those decisions are put into practice. He said some of the presentations this week have already hit on that topic.
“Those local boards are going to decide to move kids around, then that county has to make sure that the facility, that the building is good, to maintain and do that,” Neptune said. “Some of them are coming for that. Looking ahead that if they have to move students in, will that HVAC handle that? Would they have to look at an expansion on the side of a school for a couple more classrooms? So they’re doing their forethinking as far as that is concerned.”
In Tuesday morning’s meetings, superintendents from Braxton, Nicholas, Logan, Boone, Grant, Fayette, Wayne, Wirt, Mineral, Randolph, and Webster will stop by. Leaders in Hampshire, Jefferson, Clay, Preston, and Pleasant counties wrap things up on Tuesday afternoon.
Neptune said the board will review the presentations over the coming month after the last superintendent, Michael Wells of Pleasants County, addresses them on Tuesday afternoon.
“Then we sit down as a group, as a team, and evaluate that from our evaluation documents that we have to score those,” Neptune said. “Then we make the recommendation to the board for them to vote on December.”
Neptune said there are both positives and negatives to this, as these decisions are extremely difficult for the SBA board. He said his priority is always to help as many counties as possible with the resources available.
“You drive around our beautiful state, and you see some of the concerns that are facing the board of educations and buildings, it makes it a tough decision when you have just that amount versus the amount of the request. But anytime that you can help somewhere along the line, that’s the blessing.”