School Facilities Services/Transportation Team
Facilities Maintenance Template (FMT) and Capital Asset Management (CAM) Program
In 1998, the Maine State Legislature passed LD 2252 authorizing the Maine Department of Education (20-A §4001 and §15918) to require school administrative units to develop and implement a maintenance and capital improvement program for school buildings. These programs include elements like routine, preventive, and predictive maintenance and capital improvements like replacement and upgrades of building components. Additionally, school administrative units were encouraged to designate a certain percentage of their operating budgets toward maintenance and capital improvement programs. The Maine Department of Education has assisted schools with these efforts in terms of financial and technical assistance including web-based software and templates.
With respect to capital asset management (CAM), the Maine Department of Education was required to provide financial and technical assistance to school administrative units. Funding from the State Revolving Renovation Fund (SRRF) was provided for the development and hosting of a web-based CAM database for an initial 3-year period beginning in 2003. The SRRF also provided partial funding for school systems for the initial evaluation of assets and subsequent input of that data. Schools systems must actively use the program to obtain further funding. Approximately 2/3rds of school systems have taken advantage of this opportunity and hired consultants to conduct the initial asset evaluation and input the data into the web-based database. The Maine Department of Education has reimbursed school units more than $600,000 dollars for CAM activities. The contract with the host for the web-based database expires in June of 2007 at an annual cost of $130,000.
With respect to maintenance programs, the Maine Department of Education has created web-based templates for use by the school units. Several templates were created by a stakeholders group and placed on the Department’s website to assist school units with the evaluation and assessment of their facilities regarding to custodial, operations, grounds, vehicle, and maintenance services. School units can use this information to help them improve services and the State can use this information to assess a school unit’s overall performance regarding operations and maintenance.
The Maine Department of Education also has established a guideline for school units to reinvest in capital renewal of their school buildings. The guideline establishes a benchmark of 2% of the current replacement value of the building. School systems are advised to appropriate this amount annually for building maintenance.
For a more detailed explanation, refer to State Board of Education rules Chapter 64 – “Maine School Facilities Program and Revolving Renovation Fund.”
Documents below are provided in PDF or Microsoft Word formats. To view PDF documents, you will need the free Adobe Reader. To view MS Word documents, you will need Microsoft Word or the free Word Viewer.
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VFA Training - September 2007