Building and Maintaining Safe Schools

Equitable funding of school construction and reliable investment in major maintenance will reduce deterioration of our schools, save the state millions of dollars in future full school replacement costs, and ensure all Alaska children have safe facilities in which to learn.

Between 2015 and 2022, 1,047 school capital improvement projects (CIP) were requested and 114 (or 11%) of those have received funding. While the FY23 budget included funding to backfill a serious backlog of REAA construction and major maintenance and school bond debt reimbursement (due to previous years’ governor vetoes), the number of projects still on the list remains huge (97 current requests total $217.8 million).

Many school facilities are in serious disrepair, resulting in unsafe, unhealthy environments for children and school staff. Materials costs are skyrocketing, contractors are scarce and expensive, and even routine maintenance has become a challenge.

For school districts, these projects once completed will result in significant cost savings due to improved energy efficiency and reduced need for ongoing maintenance and repair. We continually ask our school districts to spend efficiently – funding these projects will help them do so.

The need for major maintenance for our school districts is real and it is significant. For many schools the need is urgent. For all school districts, the financial impact is substantial, and for REAA school districts, there are no real alternatives for obtaining funding for these needed projects. For small rural village schools, there are no options for moving to another location – there are no extra buildings available in those villages for educating our children.

Coalition for Education Equity continues to fight to ensure reliable, adequate, and equitable funding for school construction and major maintenance. We advocate for:

• Significant investment in school major maintenance

• Maintaining statutory funding of the REAA and Small School Construction Fund and School Bond Debt Reimbursement