Board Backs Safety Program Plan Would Tackle Construction And Maintenance Problems In Schools

The state Board of Education has endorsed a plan to immediately help struggling schools make their buildings safe for students.

Board President Tom Dillon said he would start working “as soon as humanly possible” to gather information on unsafe buildings in every Idaho school district, the estimated cost of correcting the problems and each district’s ability to cover the expense themselves.

With those numbers in hand, Dillon said he would lead the way in developing a proposal for the Legislature solely addressing safety needs.

“This could be solved not in two years but, if things work, in this next legislative session,” Dillon said. “But we’ve got to get with it.”

Several North Idaho schools would benefit from such a plan. In Sandpoint, for example, a school was closed last year when a roof collapsed. Elsewhere in the state, school buildings are used even though they’ve been condemned by inspectors.

The question of how to pay for fixing the safety problems was left open, but Dillon and Nampa contractor Jerry Hess emphasized that the board was not advocating that the state pick up the tab for any local district.

At most, Dillon said, those districts found incapable of solving immediate safety problems endangering their students should get some temporary state aid that would have to be repaid.

A 1993 report found more than $700 million in school construction and maintenance needs statewide. Deputy State Schools Superintendent Jerry Pelton said about $485 million of that total involved safety and structural concerns. But Dillon said the report “had very broad parameters and addressed many other issues as well,” including enrollment growth, wiring for technology systems and reducing student-teacher ratios.

“There has not been sigificant resolution to the numerous issues raised in the 1993 study,” he said.

“The broad scope and complexity of the issues have blurred any attempts to focus or stay focused and specific items - such as the very pertinent safety issue - have not been resolved.”

New board member Tom Boyd of Genesee applauded Dillon’s commitment to taking on the safety problem, citing the crisis in his area at 93-year-old Troy High School. It has twice failed state safety reviews and last year was threatened with closure by the attorney general’s office.

Boyd called it “a fire trap waiting to happen, with kids in it.”

Outgoing State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox formed a committee last spring to consider options for addressing the enormous backlog of school building needs.

But Fox acknowledged the wisdom of taking a more manageable bite of the problem and agreed that safety should be the highest priority.

However, board members rejected her suggestion that a subcommittee of her panel of legislators, state and local officials and citizen representatives help Dillon gather his information. Dillon said some of those committee members would be involved, but he said he wants a more streamlined process.