As school districts nationwide struggle against rising tides of deferred maintenance in their facilities, maintenance and engineering managers in one state are on the verge of receiving a huge infusion of funds designed to help them fight back.
School districts across Idaho soon will receive hundreds of millions of dollars to help repair and replace their aging buildings, thanks to a bill that recently cleared its final hurdle in the Idaho Senate, according to ProPublica.
House Bill 521 will invest $1.5 billion in new funding and redirect $500 million over 10 years for school facilities across the state. Districts for decades have struggled to fix or replace their aging, deteriorating schools and build new ones to accommodate the state’s rapid growth.
The bill, which the governor is expected to sign into law, will create a new fund that will allocate money to districts based on average daily attendance. School districts could choose to take the money in a lump sum or annually over 10 years.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
