NAMPA, Idaho — Governor Brad Little's plan to allocate $2 billion over ten years for Idaho school maintenance and facilities
- The Nampa School District sits with $69 million in deferred maintenance after closing three schools
- $2 billion would be allocated to all Idaho school districts over 10 years
- Some worry that rising maintenance costs will make for the money not being enough a decade down the road
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Governor Brad Little's Idaho Works plan, outlined in his State of the State address, proposes a significant investment into a fund for Idaho school facility construction and maintenance
"We must provide for both new facility construction and the maintenance needs for existing facilities," proclaimed Little.
"I think it's encouraging because it's something we've been trying to address as a district looking our facilities and maintaining the buildings, some of the decisions we made about closing schools all has to do with deferred maintenance so I think it's encouraging we're putting a focus on that," said Dr. Gregg Russell, Superintendent of Nampa School District.
The Governor, asking the legislature to allocate $2 billion over ten years to districts across the state.
I spoke with teacher and Nampa Education Association president, Brian Coffey, about the governor's request.
"My initial reaction was 'that's a big number' and that sounds great, but over 10 years, that's obviously less of a number per year than is probably going to be necessary especially 10 years from now," Coffey said.
Dr. Russell says it's likely for repair costs to increase over the next decade, and in Nampa, they're already making major cost-saving decisions. The school board voted in December to close the buildings of Centennial Elementary, Union School, and Gateways to save about $9 million of the $78 million in current deferred maintenance.
The amount of deferred maintenance is on the minds of Idaho legislators.
"We have to address the billion-dollar backlog for maintenance of our schools. Our kids deserve to have a building where they can learn safely and in comfort and thrive," says Idaho Senator Melissa Wintrow.
I also reached out to the Vallivue School District on their thoughts but they declined to comment for this story.
