State school construction board reports local shares of annual funding are $1.25B to the state share of $430M. Concern continues amongst IAC board members that state contributions are not keeping pace with need.
During a regularly scheduled meeting of the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) Executive Director Alex Donahue shared insights on the FY27 state capital budget and sat for questions from board members. Donahue’s remarks included a description of the financial needs statewide in school construction along with an overview of state and local allocations.
Staff shared that in the last round of project funding requests there were 161 applications from local educations agencies totaling $754M in requested state funding. The FY27 state capital budget allocation for this specific bucket of requests can only cover $430M of the costs despite many of the projects being eligible. Those projects will need to be delayed or funded locally to continue moving forward.
Currently annual local funding totals $1.25B to the state share of $430M and this is while local education agencies are deferring projects and exhausting other available funding streams. Staff members also reminded board members that $754M does not represent the total need but no sources for additional funds have been identified and the agency is doing the best with what they are being given from the General Assembly leadership.
Chair Edward Kasemeyer inquired about what has been done to educate the General Assembly on the issue with staff confirming they have communicated the shortfalls in great detail to leadership and will continue to “sound the alarm” on the severity of the issues. Additional board members questioned whether the Comptroller’s report on the issue had any influence on state leadership. Donahue relayed that the Comptroller’s report aligned with the IAC’s own insights and is hopeful that both sets of research will continue to be discussed as plans for the FY28 capital budget take shape.
