State set to match school construction bond dollars

The State Board of Education approved temporary rules Thursday governing the new Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching program, which will provide matching grants to support improvements to school facilities.

Communities that pass general obligation bonds to improve their local school buildings will be eligible to receive matching grants of up to $8 million.

The Oregon Legislature authorized the sale of state-backed general obligation bonds for the program, which will provide about $123 million to help stretch local dollars and address urgent school facility needs across the state.

In Oregon, communities generally address school facility needs by passing local, voter-approved bonds. In many communities, getting the votes needed to pass these bonds has been a challenge, and statewide, there is currently an estimated $7.6 billion in deferred school maintenance costs.

“Our students need and deserve schools that are safe, healthy, and promote learning,” said state Deputy Schools Superintendent Salam Noor. “This grant program can help communities address critical maintenance needs, upgrade aging buildings, and improve learning conditions for our students.

“Through leveraging both state and local resources, we can maximize our impact and remove barriers to student success by improving our schools.”

The grants will be administered by the newly formed Office of School Facilities within the Oregon Department of Education.

Districts will have three opportunities to apply for these matching funds. Applications will be due before the general elections of May 2016, November 2016, and May 2017. The first round of applications will be accepted starting January 15, 2016. Grant funding will be contingent on passage of a local bond to improve school facilities.

In order to ensure the funds are reaching the areas of greatest need while also providing opportunities to all school districts, funds will be awarded to districts through two methods:

Priority List Process – 60 percent of the funds will be awarded through a process which prioritizes districts with low-assessed property value and higher rates of student poverty. This is designed to encourage communities with fewer resources to support a local school facilities bond which will be matched by the state.

First-In-Time Process –the remaining 40 percent of the funds will be available to districts on a first-come-first-served basis. This process is designed to provide all districts with a chance to receive matching grants from the state.

In addition to the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching program, the Office of School Facilities will provide technical assistance grants to districts. These grants will provide additional resources to districts to enable them to conduct a variety of assessments on their school facilities including: facilities assessments, long range facility plans, and seismic assessments.

Funding for these grants will be available to districts beginning in the summer of 2016.

For additional information on the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching program, including the funding and priority list formulae, see the website at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=398. For an FAQ on this program, click here.