Panel: Schools applying after others may get funding priority

AUGUSTA – School construction projects could be assigned a funding riority and receive favored treatment over projects already on the state’s funding list, a state Board of Education advisory panel concluded unanimously Tuesday.

The panel met in response to legislation enacted earlier this year that would require state education officials to look into protecting the rank of projects near the top of the funding list.

The officials are also to examine whether the current two-year evaluation cycle should be lengthened.

Under a 3-year-old law, schools that want state money for construction projects must compete every two years against any other projects seeking money in the same cycle.

The schools are ranked based on a formula of need.

James Banks Sr., a Portland school board member representing the Maine School Boards Association on the School Construction Stakeholders Group, said he reserved judgment on the two issues. But he argued for an 18-month selection cycle.

Portland schools did not apply in the first round of funding and will not be put on the new list until April 2002.

Augusta schools are on the cusp of the priority list, but City Manager William Bridgeo said he could not support a proposal to protect the ranking of projects such as Cony High School.

Bridgeo acknowledged that “there will be a very high level of frustration” if some projects do not receive funding because other schools move ahead of them even though they did not apply for funding in the first round.

State Board of Education member James E. Rier Jr., chairman of the stakeholders group, said the state should continue to re-evaluate projects every two years.

Most panel members agree that schools on the list that have emergency health issues should be allowed to fix them without affecting their ranking.