Schools board
to decide priorities
on projects

Its priorities often differ from
what schools, or the governor,
want for students

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

The 1998-99 traditional school year opens tomorrow with two newly built schools and design plans in place for two new high schools and two elementary schools.

Keeau and Kapolei high schools and Royal Kunia and Nanakuli IV elementary schools are high on the list of district projects in the Department of Education's 1999-2001 biennium budget request.

The list, totaling nearly $200 million per year, is up for a vote by the schools board tomorrow. The governor will use the list to develop a budget proposal and send that to the 1999 Legislature.

While schools and communities may feel projects such as air-conditioning or electrical upgrades are a higher priority, the department says it develops its list based on immediate health and safety needs, compliance with federal and county regulations and mandates, and enrollment increases.

Included in the top 10 projects is installation of air conditioning at Pearl City Elementary, Kapalama Elementary and Waipahu High classrooms, which will be sealed to help reduce traffic noise. The schools are located next to busy roads.

Kapalama Principal Gregg Lee said he believes the tests on noise levels from traffic on School Street and nearby Kamehameha Shopping Center were done in 1978. He was told the project was not completed then because there was no money.

While teachers and students have basically learned to live with the noise, the build-up of soot from the street was becoming a health hazard. Most of the louvers were closed so teachers could be heard above the noise, but that built up heat in the classroom. Standardized tests had to be administered in the cafeteria so students could hear instructions, Lee said.

The department is also completing a list of schools targeted to receive air conditioning because of excessive heat, said Lester Chunk, facilities director. Priority will go to schools on the Ewa plain, the Waianae coast, along Lahaina, the leeward coast of Kauai and possibly West Hawaii.

"Who comes after - we'll have to wrestle with that," Chuck said. "Everybody wants A/C, but it's going to be a question of whether we can sell it to the Legislature."

Not all schools have the electrical capacity to run air conditioning systems, he said.

New schools such as Mililani Middle and Waikele Elementary, which opened this year, have air conditioning because those schools are or will run year-round, Chuck said.

School board member Francis McMillen has complained over the years when projects that were deemed priority get dropped lower on the list because of immediate problems somewhere else.

"Oftentimes we never get back to that priority, and it gets lower and lower on the list. When will we go back to the older schools and give them the facilities they need?" he asked.

While statutory funding for new schools and facilities was set at $90 million annually, the governor and Legislature have been providing more money than that, said Raynor Minami, capital improvement projects planner.

In the last biennium, the department received $160 million the first year and $120 million the second year. The department's proposal seeks funding for 92 projects totaling $200 million per year.

Even if not all projects get funded, legislators at least have an idea what the department's priorities are and hopefully stick to that list, Minami said.

After a 1991 study by national consulting firm MGT of America Inc., the Department of Education embarked on a 10-year capital improvement plan that would reduce the backlog of school construction projects and bring facilities up to standards.

The cost, which included removing architectural barriers to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, asbestos removal, renovation of special education classrooms and portable classrooms was estimated at $2.1 billion.

Since 1991-92, the department has spent $800 million in construction, Chuck said. "We've made a lot of progress, and we'll keep pecking away at it."

Funds sought to fix schools

Proposed capital improvement projects' 1999-2001 biennium budget priorities:

STATEWIDE

1. Relocation or construction of temporary classrooms for immediate enrollment needs, existing shortages and program demands, $7 million.
2. Minor renovations and improvements to buildings and school sites for unforeseen facility and program needs, $3.7 million.
3. Master plans, site selection and land acquisition for new schools, $2 million.
4. Renovations for noise and heat abatement for schools with excessive vehicular, aircraft or construction noise and excessively high temperatures, $3 million.
5. Fire protection systems and fire alarm systems to meet county standards, $4 million.
6. Architectural barrier corrections to comply with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, $9 million.
7. Renovations to convert classrooms for special-education students, $500,000.
8. Asbestos or lead paint removal, $2 million.
9. Compliance with health and safety laws and ordinances, $2 million.
10. Ongoing projects needing additional funds due to unforeseen problems, $4 million.
11. Telecommunication and power infrastructure requirements, $6 million.
12. Wages for project-funded staff positions, $500,000.
13. District relocations and improvements, $75,000.
14. Electrical power upgrades to meet program and facility needs, $4 million.

DISTRICT

15. Campbell High: Design and construction for electrical upgrades, $940,000.
16. Ilima Intermediate: Design and construction for electrical upgrades, $495,000.
17. Keeau High: Phase II construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $17.5 million.
18. Kapolei High: Phase I construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $25 million.
19. Royal Kunia Elementary: Phase I and II construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $19 million.
20. Iao Intermediate: Renovation of old Wailuku Armory, ground and site improvements, equipment, $6 million.
21. Keeau High: Design of Phase IV, $600,000.
22. Keeau High: Phase III construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $12 million.
23. Keeau High: Phase IV construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $7 million.
24. Waihee Elementary: Construction of new playing field to open up site for new classroom building, $3.5 million.
25. Nanakuli IV Elementary: Phase I and II construction, ground and site improvements, equipment, $21 million.