Officials propose to rid schools of repair backlog
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
After checking off a third of the decade-long repair and maintenance backlog at the public schools in little more than a year, educators have set their sights on something more ambitious.
They want to finish off the whole list.
Public school educators and officials at the Department of Accounting and General Services see their best chance to make a dent in school conditions that teachers and students have grown almost resigned to: termite damage, peeling paint, old furniture, dim lighting and uneven flooring.
Lawmakers last year threw an unprecedented $210 million at the repair and maintenance problem in a variety of allocations, hoping to improve conditions and stimulate the post-Sept. 11 state economy.
Feeling they had to prove to lawmakers they could do the work quickly, DAGS officials diverted workers from other projects and used outside contractors to expedite the projects.
Now DAGS, the government agency in charge of school repairs and maintenance, is developing a six-year plan to eliminate the backlog, which stands at $430 million.
But officials face a new governor and a new set of legislators who might not be as eager to use construction spending as a way to boost the economy.
"It brings construction money onto the market," said Al Suga, Department of Education assistant superintendent. "It's been a real boost from that point of view. This is what the governor did in the past two years. I'm hoping this governor continues on with that."
The ideas of John Maynard Keynes, the British economist who advocated public works projects as a way to pull depressed economies out of the doldrums, influenced the way former Gov. Ben Cayetano tried to use construction projects as a way to boost hiring at local companies.
Hawai'i school administrators hope Keynesian economics will again prevail at the Legislature this year.
"This is a policy issue, it's not an engineering issue," Suga said. "We know what work needs to be done."
DAGS' plan, which should be ready by the end of the month, would reach 228 of the state's 263 regular public schools and more than 10,000 classrooms.
James Richardson, chief of the Central Services Division of DAGS, said the plan would include electrical power upgrades, which could allow more computer use and Internet access in classrooms, and other projects that schools deem "high priority."
Given the spending infusion last year, Ray Minami, DOE facilities director, said officials are optimistic that more can be done to improve school facilities.
"We hope the new governor can find money or budget better," Minami said.
The DAGS plan would cost an estimated $120 million per year, at a time when state budgets across the country are taking severe hits, and "savings" is a watchword of the Lingle administration.
Already, for the current fiscal year, most state agencies must cut 5 percent of their budget to meet a $200 million state budget shortfall.
Lenny Klompus, Lingle's senior adviser for communications, said education will play a central role in Lingle's State of the State address Tuesday, but he could not say how much money she would direct to school repairs.
"As a general concept, the governor is committed to education and doing everything possible to make sure the teachers and students have what they need for a good learning environment," Klompus said. "She's aware that there's some problems with the environment — whether it's that it's too hot or there's termite damage. We will address it."
The state's capital improvement budget, which can be tapped for major school renovation projects, will also take a hit this year.
Cayetano had proposed a $1.6 billion construction budget, but budget director Georgina Kawamura has said that would be trimmed to about $600 million for the biennium, with priority going to projects in more advanced stages of planning.
The suggested capital improvements budget for schools is $45 million; school officials hope to bump that up to $90 million, the standard level for school construction from 1989 to 1999.
Rep. Guy Ontai, R-37th (Mililani, Waipi'o), said he expects school renovation to constitute a "big chunk" of Lingle's budget, even if it doesn't reach the $210 million of the last year or the $120 million DAGS request.
"I think the governor has expressed dismay that some of this stuff hasn't gotten moving yet," Ontai said. "I would go for whatever we can take for the schools."
Meanwhile, the $210 million effort to renovate classrooms at 40 Hawai'i schools is winding down.
To date, 37 schools from Kaua'i to the Big Island have gotten a classroom facelift.
Construction is under way at the final three campuses on the list: Kaimuki Middle, Kalaheo Elementary and Makawao Elementary schools.
At Kaimuki Middle School, Principal Frank Fernandes said crews are in the finishing phase of classroom renovations that include new interior and exterior paint and lighting that's brighter and more energy efficient.
To minimize campus disruption, crews work on four classrooms at a time, shuffling teachers and students to a new location. But no one's complaining.
"It's been a boon to us all," Fernandes said. "Like any project, there have been ups and downs. People had to pack up and move their classroom. The kids and teachers have been phenomenally cooperative and flexible, though."
Both Democrats and Republicans have talked about giving schools more control over repairs and the money to make them.
House Majority Leader Calvin Say last week called the system for repairing and maintaining the schools "woefully inadequate."
In his address on the opening day of the legislative session, Say promised legislation that would let schools contract for repair and maintenance on their own.
"This is one critical area where community-based decisions are the right way," he said. "Local schools know what needs to be fixed. Government should provide the resources and then get out of the way."
Republicans would like to split the DOE into seven separate school districts run by seven boards of education.
They would give lump-sum, per-pupil budgets to the boards to pay for everything from teachers' salaries to repair and maintenance.
"I think the community would take care of problems a lot more quickly," Ontai said.
The DOE's repairs and maintenance backlog soared out of control in the 1990s, fed by falling maintenance allocations from the Legislature during the decade's economic downturn. The problem was aggravated by aging school facilities in need of more major repairs.
The general practice had been to repair only the most critical, health-threatening conditions or tackle the least-involved projects to keep facilities operating, department officials say.
Meanwhile, more than $60 million in routine repair work piled up each year in classrooms, gymnasiums and school libraries.
The to-do list eventually bloated to more than 10,000 projects in a fat three-ring binder at DAGS.
From termite treatment to new classroom furniture, the ever-changing and ever-growing list became testimony to the dismal conditions in many of the state's schools.
Hawai'i isn't alone in its repair and maintenance problems.
A 1999 report from the National Center for Education Statistics estimated American schools needed $127 billion in repairs and maintenance, at an average cost of $2.2 million per school.
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
