Woodsville
A new law this year established a statewide Public School Infrastructure Fund that draws money from budget surpluses toward safety, security and internet connectivity improvements in schools.
Although precise numbers aren’t available yet, state education officials estimate that about $19 million will be left over for schools. State Rep. Rick Ladd, the Haverhill Republican who chairs a commission to help distribute these funds, says his hometown might well qualify for some aid.
“There’s a good possibility that they’re going to receive some support,” he said in an interview on Monday.
School Administrative Unit 23, which oversees schools in the Upper Valley towns of Haverhill and Piermont, has been grappling with deficiencies in its physical infrastructure for years.
Administrators have been considering closing the aging Woodsville Elementary School and making corresponding additions to the Haverhill Cooperative Middle School, a project that could require a special Town Meeting to ask voters to sign off on bonds.
The Haverhill Cooperative School Board had considered calling a vote as soon as this fall, but now is likely to push the potential special Town Meeting to March as it works to cut costs from the plan, according to minutes from its Oct. 2 meeting.
SAU 23 officials in April also submitted two grant requests to Concord in hopes that a moratorium on school building aid from the state might soon be lifted.
New Hampshire was spending nearly $50 million annually on the school building aid program when it was suspended in 2010, a figure that includes both new projects and debt service on existing ones.
The Public School Infrastructure Fund is a separate program, and could potentially fund a fraction of the $18.8 million project that SAU 23 submitted in April, 60 percent of which would be funded by state building aid, were that available.
Wayne Fortier, a Haverhill Selectboard member who chairs the school district’s Strategic Facilities Committee, said administrators already had submitted an application for about $825,000 in aid under the new infrastructure fund.
“I hope we’re awarded that, and we’re counting on that in our planning as to what kind of renovation we do,” he said.
That money likely would go toward bringing school buildings in line with fire code and with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires the schools be fully accessible to people with disabilities.
To meet the latter set of requirements, Woodsville High School, which was built in 1896, needs upgrades to an elevator in one building and must install a new elevator elsewhere in its facilities.
Fortier said officials also were looking to upgrade their heating system by buying two new boilers and installing modern electronic controls.
Under the new statute establishing the Public School Infrastructure Fund, an anticipated extra $25 million from the two-year state budget that ended in June will first be put toward the state’s rainy day fund, spending about $6 million to bring that pool of money up to a required $100 million.
Then state officials will begin accepting applications from districts for a piece of the remaining $19 million, according to Amy Clark, administrator of the New Hampshire Department of Education’s School Safety & Facility Management Bureau.
Clark, who will handle these requests from school districts, said local educational officials can apply for funding under three categories: correcting life and safety deficiencies at schools, bringing fiber-optic internet connections to schools and improving security in schools.
Clark on Monday emphasized that state officials were working from initial estimates of the state budget surplus.
A final audit won’t be complete until January, she said.
At this moment, she said, “they don’t really have money. It’s just an estimated amount at this point.”
Nevertheless, Clark and other state officials will review the applications and present them to the commission that Ladd chairs, the eight-member Public School Infrastructure Commission — which, in turn, will make funding recommendations to Gov. Chris Sununu.
Other members of the commission include New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and State Education Board Chairman Drew Cline.
“Much needed funds will be headed back to local school districts for some critically needed building projects from our newly created Public School Infrastructure Fund,” Sununu said in a news release last week. “Once finalized, we will be able to deliver this additional support through school building aid without increasing state liabilities; these are one-time funds that will be spent on one time projects.”
In Lebanon, three schools — Mount Lebanon School, Hanover Street School and Lebanon High School — could benefit from the public fund by improving security around their entrances, School Board Chairman Jeff Peavey said.
“They need a better flow to the front end — moving the offices so they can see who’s coming in,” Peavey said in a telephone interview on Monday.
He added that the work had been a few years off, “but if this (fund) is coming about, maybe this will be pushed up.”
As regards the safety portion of the state fund, Peavey mentioned that the main entrance to Lebanon High School lacked a ramp, which could mean it does not meet ADA standards.
An architectural consultant for the Lebanon School District last month said school buildings in the city could use up to $27 million in a wide array of new construction and renovations.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.