INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO.  74

 

POLICY CODE:  FE

 

TO:                 Superintendents with Major Capital Improvement Applications Pending

 

FROM:           J. Duke Albanese, Commissioner

 

DATE:            April 30, 2002

 

SUBJECT:      Solutions to School Facilities Needs

 

With the school priority list for the next round of school construction due to be presented to the State Board of Education (SBE) on May 15, 2002, at the Augusta Armory, I want to focus attention on the process that will follow.

 

Priority lists are based on need.  Decisions as to how many projects can be funded will be made in the coming months.  For those projects that receive State funding, the solutions to their various needs will be developed during meetings with the Department of Education (DOE) staff, the State Board and representatives of the local school unit.  The DOE and the State Board will be looking for solutions that offer a 50-year solution, accommodate essential education programs including the implementation of Maine’s Learning Results, provide for good facility management and maintenance, accommodate acceptable student enrollments, eliminate leased space across a district and, in short, offer the best overall, long-term value for the district and the State.

 

In any given situation, and particularly where old, small schools are no longer suitable for students, no assumption can be made that the answer will be a simple replacement of the problem school.  In all cases, consideration of solutions will include, in addition to the items noted above, a review of other school facilities in the area and the distances involved, the degree of geographic isolation, and whether there are feasible opportunities for inter-district cooperation.

 

Pending issuance of the priority list and a determination of the number of projects to be funded, I urge you to focus with your school board or building committee on the primary objectives to be served by the project rather than on details of construction.  Our experience with the current cycle shows that the shape and nature of projects often changes during the course of discussions; premature commitment of significant resources to identifying elements of design may result in expenditures that are not germane to the ultimate solution, and thus become unnecessary expenses for the districts.

 

With 110 projects seeking funding and with funds available to undertake only a small number of those projects, I am sure you would agree that every effort must be made to serve Maine students with projects that are responsive to student safety and learning needs, and that stretch construction dollars as far as possible.