For at least the fourth straight year, Kanawha County school officials are asking the state School Building Authority to help fund work on Andrews Heights Elementary.
After being rejected the past several years, county officials have adjusted their proposal.
Kanawha wants $2.2 million from the SBA, which distributes dollars money from both state general revenue and lottery funds, to supplement roughly $700,000 in local funding. The project would eliminate the Tornado school's existing four portable classrooms, which Kanawha Superintendent Ron Duerring said have been there for at least as long as he's had his position - about 18 years. The classrooms have mold issues that have cost the county $200,000 over the last several years, Duerring said.
"Each year we have some issue, we keep trying to keep the mold out of those portables," Duerring told SBA board members during a presentation Tuesday.
The project would add two classrooms to the school and renovate other classrooms, also adding an "exploratorium" resembling the one at the recently built Edgewood Elementary, where Duerring said test scores are increasing. He said the exploratorium supports small group instruction for kids and technology integration, and the county reduced the scope of its project from 4-6 additional classrooms after seeing the success of Edgewood's setup.
The superintendent said the project would also add a student drop off area for parents and buses and expand the school's cafeteria.
"The existing kitchen is extremely undersized and is in violation of safety regulations according to the Fire Marshal," according to an SBA evaluation report on the Andrews Heights proposal.
Tom Lange, an SBA board member from Jefferson County, asked why Kanawha County hadn't put forth more local funding for the idea, noting the county has about $13 million in "unencumbered" funds. Duerring responded with a long list of expenses that can consume such money, including substitute teacher pay and new learning materials.
"It's always easy to take a look at those dollar amounts, and they seem so large," Duerring said. "But when you take a look at our district, with 67 schools, 28,000 students and over 3,500 employees, it doesn't seem that much when you start looking at what we need to do."
SBA Executive Director David Sneed said the 20 counties that have requested "needs" grant money for this funding cycle have asked for a total of $148 million. SBA officials expect only $54 million to be available, and that could be lowered by further mid-fiscal-year budget cuts due to the state's continuing revenue shortfall. Sneed said that $148 million figure includes the full requested amounts from all counties, without accounting for the fact that a few are asking for the money over multiple years.
Kanawha school board President Robin Rector, who attended Tuesday's meeting to advocate for the Andrews Heights project, said her board has the "utmost support for the project."
"We know we've brought it to you before. I just wanted to reinforce that we do have the support, as well as the support from the community," she said.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1254 or follow
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