By: Erin Smith
While state law makers haggle over such budget issues as pay raises for teachers and how best to use state lottery funds, one education issue getting very little air time is the need for greater funding for school infrastructure.
North Carolina’s public school system is hemorrhaging students at a rate of about 250 students per year since 2011, according to NC Policy Watch. However, the problem of aging school facilities, leaking roofs, outdated electrical circuits and failing heating and cooling units, is growing in North Carolina. NC Policy Watch is projecting that over the next five years, North Carolina is going to be faced with $8 billion in school facilities needs that range from new construction to maintenance and repairs statewide.
In Bladen County, currently the school system has 13 buildings that range in age from about 60 years old to the newest being about 15 years old. The school district currently has an enrollment of 4,700 students in grades K-12, said Bladen County School’s Superintendent Robert Taylor.
Taylor said in Bladen County, East Bladen and West Bladen High Schools are the two newest school buildings in the district and are about 15 years old. This means the district staff is beginning to prepare for roof replacements at each school.
“Most roofs have about a 20 year life span,” said Taylor.
He said that when you look at the other buildings that make up the school district, many of which are about 60 years old, there are major concerns such as chillers that no longer function properly, boiler issues, roof issues, electrical issues and so on.
Taylor said that the 21st Century study done in 2005 found about $60 million in facility needs and upgrades that were necessary for Bladen County Schools at that time. He said some of the most serious issues identified in that study have been dealt with but others still remain to be resolved.
Recently, the school district just completed repairs to the roof at Elizabethtown Middle School.
“When you don’t have the necessary funds to do preventive maintenance, you have to do the best you can,” said Taylor.
He said the district and the community need to have a dialogue about the future facilities needs for the school district. Taylor said that school enrollment figures are currently flat and charter schools can have an impact on those figures.
Taylor said that one consideration is to look at how the buildings are used and which ones are being underutilized.
“If you have a building that can support 400 students but on average has 200 students, you still have to perform maintenance on that facility,” said Taylor.
He said one possible scenario for the county is to construct new buildings to replace some of the older buildings currently in use.
“In my opinion, we need to sit down as a community and discuss what we want our schools to look like in the future,” said Taylor.
He said some considerations for building new schools is where the greatest population is located, travel times to reach the school, potential locations for the schools, what programs do we want offered within the new buildings, does the community want the buildings to be K-4 facilities or K-8 facilities, and so on. Taylor added that other considerations when building a new building is efficiency in transportation, food service and personnel.
“We need to think about what a school should look like in the 21st century,” said Taylor.
He added that if the district and the community cannot reach a consensus, the district still has crumbling infrastructure that must be maintained and repaired. Taylor said the older buildings can also create potential problems when it comes to using modern technology.
“You can rewire a building, but you cannot go into concrete block walls and terrazzo floors (to wire a building),” said Taylor.
He explained that means the electricians have to use conduit and other methods to run new wiring in older buildings and the school district must assume all of the risks associated with it.
Taylor said the potential cost of constructing one building could run between $25-$30 million. Taylor said the cost can depend on the type of building that is constructed and how it is financed among other things. Taylor said that if you assume $20 million to build one building, the district could easily be faced with spending as much as $80 million if they choose to construct four buildings.
“That is a lot of money,” said Taylor when it is weighed against other needs in the county and school district.
In contrast, Taylor said that if the district were to keep all 13 buildings and make all of the upgrades necessary, the district would need to spend about $50 million.
He pointed out that 15 years ago when East Bladen and West Bladen High Schools were built, they cost the county about $36 million. The buildings were paid for with bond funds.
“That was a major undertaking, then,” said Taylor.
Bladen County only receives about $250,000 annually from the NC State Education lottery fund that can be used for facility repairs and maintenance, said Taylor. That means that the district must set priorities for the projects where those lottery funds are utilized.
He emphasized, that something must be done, not just in Bladen County, but statewide for the aging facilities.
“As a community, we’ve got to come to terms on what we want our schools to look like in 10 years and how we plan to get there,” said Taylor.
He pointed out Bladen County is not the only school district faced with aging and crumbling facilities and lower student enrollment. Both Scotland and Robeson counties are discussing school consolidation plans.
According to the NC Policy Watch, the state tends to overlook spending for our school facilities opting instead to focus on teacher salaries and spending per student. It has been about 20 years since North Carolina issued an education bond for new school construction, according to the think tank. This trend places more of the burden for upkeep and maintenance of aging and crumbling school buildings back on the local government body, many of which are struggling financially.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure committee of the North Carolina General Assembly will give its final report and make recommendations to the legislature in December.
“The question is, what is North Carolina going to do?” said Taylor.
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