Some $60 million in classroom renovations that were put on hold last year are back on track, Department of Education officials said.

The general sprucing up of classrooms at 50 schools statewide — from repainting buildings to replacing worn-out white boards — was put on hold last year when Gov. Linda Lingle's administration refused to release about $110 million in cash set aside by the Legislature.

But the DOE will soon get $121 million in bond money to meet various capital improvement and repair and maintenance needs, with about $60 million of that being set aside for upgrades at aging schools across the state.

"All of the designs for these projects have been finished, but the funding for the construction never came through," said Duane Kashiwai, public works manager for the DOE's facilities development branch.

"This money means that we will be able to start construction at a lot more schools."

Schools are welcoming to news that renovations could be coming soon.

"We've waited quite a while for this," said Duwayne Abe, principal of Salt Lake Elementary.

Salt Lake was one of the 50 schools last year that were told their classroom renovations would have to wait. While the work deals mostly with the aesthetics of the campus, from repainting to replacing ceiling tiles, Abe said the work is necessary for a pleasant learning environment for students.

"If you compare us to a newer school, you can see the difference," Abe said.

The 37-year-old campus is showing signs of age, with peeling paint, worn-out window louvers and well-used flooring.

"The floors really take a beating, especially the rooms with carpet," Abe said.

The $121 million that will be released for capital improvement will cover the first half of the fiscal year, from July to December, said Randy Moore, assistant superintendent of business services for the DOE. Part of the $121 million includes $35 million for other repair and maintenance projects that have yet to be scheduled, as well as $15 million for the removal of cesspools on DOE campuses.

The DOE will meet with the state Department of Budget and Finance later in the year to find out how much more money they will receive during the second half of the fiscal year, he said.

SLOWING ECONOMY

In 2005, the Legislature approved $160 million to pay for classroom renovations at 96 schools across the state, in what was expected to complete a six-year effort to renovate about 200 of the state's oldest schools.

While the governor eventually released about $40 million of that money, because of the slowing economy, the remaining $120 million in cash was never released, Moore said.

Slowing state revenue growth prevented the administration from releasing cash from the state's general fund. But this past legislative session lawmakers approved changing $100 million of the $120 million to bond financing.

"Of the $120 million in cash, we received zero. The state was strapped, they weren't going to release cash," Moore said.

Lowell Kalapa, head of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said it makes sense for government to fund building repairs and maintenance through bonds, rather than paying cash from the general fund.

"By issuing debt, you can spread the payments over several generations of taxpayers," Kalapa said. "Cash has to be there today, so that means today's taxpayers have to come up with all of the money instead of it being paid by two or three generations," he said.

'OLDEST ONES FIRST'

The DOE has a repair and maintenance backlog estimated at more than $412 million, up about 21 percent from the $341 million backlog it had last year. Those numbers exclude the $60 million in classroom renovation work that was recently funded through the bond issue.

Of the 96 schools that were initially placed on the classroom renovation list in 2005, only 16 schools have actually received work. An additional 50 schools were set to receive renovations last school year, but that work was placed on hold.

Education officials have not yet released a schedule of which schools will receive renovation work or how many schools could possibly get renovations under the $60 million funding.

"It's primarily based on the age of the school — we take the oldest ones first," Moore said. "But there is also a consideration of spreading work among the various school districts and islands, so we don't put all the work in only one place. We're looking at it from those two perspectives primarily."

Christina Small, principal of Liholiho Elementary, said her school was disappointed when its classroom renovation projects were placed on hold last school year. The school was planning on the classroom renovations occurring and had made arrangements to move several classes to the library and other parts of the school.

"We definitely need it. The custodians try to take wonderful care of it, but at some point we do need full renovations," Small said.

At more than 80 years old, Small said her school is showing signs of aging.

"Things are — how should I say it — old," Small said.