Wrangell’s school buildings need a lot of expensive work, which is no surprise for 40- and 50-year-old structures with a lot of wood. Fixing everything will cost millions, and the school district and borough are hoping for state money to supplement $3.5 million in municipal spending approved by voters in 2022.
The district’s No. 1 priority in its capital improvement plan is $10 million to cover a long list of repairs at the elementary, middle and high school buildings. The goal is that the state will come through with $6.5 million to add to the borough funds.
Getting that state money will not be easy.
The school district last week submitted its application for a spot on the Alaska Department of Education’s annual Major Maintenance Grant Fund list. The department assembles applications from school districts statewide, reviews the needs and ranks the requests. The schools with the most immediate needs go to the top of the list.
That will be the first test for Wrangell. As much as the community’s school buildings need a lot of work — the district has thorough engineering team reports to back up its request — there are a lot of school buildings around Alaska in crummy shape. The state has fallen far short over the years in providing major maintenance funding — and it shows.
Last year’s list ranked 97 projects totaling $280 million, which would require almost $218 million in state dollars to match $62 million in local funds.
Where Wrangell ranks on the next list will be the first hurdle.
After the department announces its list later this fall, the state Legislature will look at the spreadsheet and appropriate what it thinks the state can afford next year — and it’s never enough to cover the entire list. The Legislature this year appropriated $30 million toward that $218 million list, enough to cover only the top 11 of 97 projects.
Then the governor made it harder. He vetoed the legislative funding, cutting it to just under $20 million, which covered just the top five projects.
The governor has a consistent history of using his veto power to reduce legislative spending on major maintenance projects at school districts statewide. He reduced funding a year ago from the $100 million approved by lawmakers down to $37.5 million. And the year before that, he totally eliminated the $21.6 million legislators appropriated for the grant program.
If Wrangell fails to win any state funding in next year’s budget, it can try again for a top ranking on the list and funding in 2025. After that, it will need to decide how best to spend the $3.5 million it has available from the local bond issue voters approved in 2022. There is a deadline in bond issues to start using the money.
If the Legislature and governor don’t see fit to approve enough money to reach Wrangell’s request on the statewide list, the school district will need to make hard decisions on which of the first-priority repairs to undertake with its limited funding. The choices are not easy—roofs, rotten beams beneath buildings, heating systems, a new boiler, siding and insulation. Nothing is frivolous, and all are needed.
What is needed the most, however, is for Wrangell to score well on the Department of Education’s ranking and for the governor to stop treating school maintenance like an option.
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