“Embarrassing,” is how R.I. Department of Education Commissioner Ken Wagner described the state of local public elementary, middle and high schools.
“When I visit a school, I’m embarrassed we have kids legally required to go there every day,” he said.
Wagner, however, along with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo and a host of other supporters of Question No. 1 on this year’s statewide ballot, thinks it is a “solvable problem,” if voters agree to a $250 million bond request.
It’s one of three statewide ballot questions totaling $367.3 million that voters will decide on next month, including another for school construction and renovation at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
The state has a long history of voting on higher education-related construction projects in bond measures. The 2018 initiatives are preceded by higher education facility bonds passed in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.
What’s different this year is the focus on upgrading primary- and secondary-education public schools across the state. Along with the statewide request for $250 million, there are individual bond requests for school repairs in eight local communities, including Providence.
These referenda range in size from $5.9 million in Jamestown to $189.5 million in East Providence and Pawtucket’s $220 million bond request.
The third statewide ballot question seeks support for a collection of 10 green-economy and clean-water projects across the state. The measure would fund improvements to coastal infrastructure and bodies of water to better combat climate change and protect natural resources.
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AFFORDABLE: General Treasurer Seth Magaziner supports two education-facilities bonds totaling $500 million over 10 years to renovate and repair school facilities throughout the state. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
QUESTION 1: Rhode Island School Buildings
Voters are asked to approve $250 million in general-obligation and refunding bonds over five years for “foundational level” repairs and new construction at public schools across the state.
In a September 2017 RIDE report, the state calculated the average age of its 306 public school campuses at 56 years. Nearly nine out of 10 campuses, 87.6 percent, were labeled in a statewide facility condition index as below average, poor, very poor or candidates for replacement.
By the state education department’s count, $2.2 billion delivered in a 10-year strategic plan is needed to bring Rhode Island public schools up to “ideal operational condition,” with $627.6 million needed to ensure “safe, warm and dry conditions” statewide.
Wagner said voters will be asked to begin paying for such improvements via two bond measures. The first bond, for $250 million, is scheduled for next month.
While the 2017 report highlights certain projects, the state does not have a running list of projects for which money is already allocated. To qualify, local education agencies, or LEAs, must first submit their plans to a state-run, project-approval process. If approved, they are eligible for payment through a pay-as-you-go capital fund and the bond or school housing-aid reimbursement.
The second bond, also slated for $250 million, would be put in front of voters in another five years if approved by the General Assembly.
The need, says Wagner, is universal. A map included in a 2016 statewide facility-assessment survey lists each of the state’s public schools in need of varying degrees of repair.
The report broke down its findings into five priority categories. Priority-one improvements – including “mission critical” fixes – will cost $54.5 million and represent 2 percent of the $2.2 billion in identified needs. Accounting for more than one-quarter of that total, or 26 percent, are the $572.9 million in priority-two projects that, if not fixed, could develop into priority-one concerns and have an “indirect impact” on a school’s “educational mission.”
The largest category of identified needs are priority-three projects costing an estimated $800.8 million, or 36 percent of the total. These projects include “deficiencies that are not urgent but would maximize facility efficiency.”
“Long-term improvements” make up priority-four repairs of $572.3 million that represent 26 percent of the total.
Finally, priority-five fixes – those “aesthetic in nature or considered enhancements” – total $221.9 million, or 10 percent of the total.
In November, said Wagner, the referendum in front of voters “target[s] the most egregious” repairs needed statewide. If the state does not pass the measure, Wagner warned repairs could cost even more down the line. The $2.2 billion in overall identified needs is calculated on the premise that the November bond measure passes.
“Every year we defer, the dollar amount goes up,” he said.
An R.I. Public Finance Management Board report published in 2017 recommended the state not take on more than $1.3 billion in overall debt, including schools, over 10 years.
As of June 30, 2016 – the most recent full fiscal year available – Rhode Island’s debt obligation stood at $1.9 billion. Per the office of the R.I. General Treasurer, the state will retire $1.5 billion in debt by 2028 and plans to borrow a maximum $1.2 billion.
“Not only can Rhode Island afford the Question No. 1 school bond, we can’t afford to wait while the condition of our schools keeps getting worse,” said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.
In May, Magaziner, who heads the board, was quoted in a Providence Business News story on the then-not-yet-approved measure, calling it affordable for the state, even given the amount of remaining debt on its ledger. Having chaired the task force that recommended the referendum, Magaziner supports the bond. He also feels the follow-up $250 million is necessary.
Wagner says the only concerns he’s heard about the 2018 bond request comes in the form of one question: “Will my community get its fair share?”
In its draft form, the referendum did not include a clause requiring school districts eligible for state funds to set aside a portion of their revenue to cover ongoing maintenance on a local level. According to his campaign, while Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung always supported the $250 million referendum request, the GOP gubernatorial candidate advocated for the inclusion of such a stipulation.
The final version of the referendum includes a stipulation he supports requiring cities and towns eligible for state aid to set aside funds for maintenance. This can be calculated one of three ways: a 3 percent minimum of a school district’s operating budget, minimum 3 percent of the building’s replacement value or a minimum $3 per square foot of the space to account for ongoing maintenance.
QUESTION 2: Higher Education Facilities (University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College)
Question No. 2 on the November 2018 Rhode Island ballot asks voters to approve $70 million in renovations and new construction on URI’s Narragansett Bay campus and the Horace Mann Hall at Rhode Island College.
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TOP PRIORITY: Construction of a new 20,000-square-foot Ocean Technology Center at the University of Rhode Island’s satellite campus in Narragansett is one of two projects totaling $45 million that would be covered by a $70 million bond Rhode Island voters will be asked to approve on Nov. 6. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND[/caption]
The Narragansett Bay campus, said URI President David M. Dooley, is home to, arguably, the most well-known programs piloted by the state’s flagship research institute – the Graduate School of Oceanography – along with ocean engineering, aquaculture and fishing courses.
If passed, $45 million would pay for two projects on the Narragansett-based satellite campus. A top priority is the construction of a new 20,000-square-foot Ocean Technology Center to support development of marine biology, oceanography and ocean technology educational and research needs of the GSO, College of Engineering, and College of the Environment and Life Sciences.
Additionally, a new 12,000-square-foot facility will provide for increased maintenance of GSO assets.
Also, the GSO’s pier will be upgraded to accommodate housing the $100 million National Science Foundation research vessel awarded to the school earlier this year. Delivery of the vessel is expected in 2021.
The $45 million requested, said Dooley, would be a “critical investment in a globally renowned aspect” of URI research.
Home of the RIC School of Education and Human Development, the remaining $25 million would be invested in renovations to Horace Mann Hall, built in 1969.
“For our teachers to be competitive, we need to modernize and design a teacher-preparation [course] for tomorrow’s teachers” and the current state of campus facilities cannot do that, said RIC President Frank D. Sánchez.
He said remodeling will include video-coaching capabilities for real-time review, as well as recording technology to allow prospective teachers to critique their technique after class.
Per RIC spokesperson Kristy dosReis, the college did not have project specifics as of late September.
“Provided the bond is approved, we will move forward with procuring a design firm to begin that process,” she said in an emailed statement.
Dooley and Sánchez agree there has been minimal opposition to the measure. Dooley, however, acknowledged the request is not immune to those voters who have a “reluctance to spend money on anything” – a demographic he feels is a “minority” locally.
QUESTION 3: Green Economy and Clean Water
Janet L. Coit, who has helmed the R.I. Department of Environmental Management for the past seven years, said ballot referenda regarding environmental protections and recreation measures are “a tried and true [method] of investment.”
Rhode Islanders, she added, are “proud” of local natural resources and want to protect them.
Question No. 3 puts forth a locked set of 10 environmental projects costing $47.3 million. For two – coastal-resiliency and public-access projects ($5 million) and dredging of the downtown Providence rivers ($7 million) – it is their first time included in such a referendum.
The remaining eight – capital for clean water and drinking water ($7.9 million), wastewater-treatment facility resilience improvements ($5 million), dam safety ($4.4 million), a state bikeway-development program ($5 million), brownfield remediation and economic development ($4 million), local recreation projects ($5 million), access to farmland initiatives ($2 million), and conservation of local open space ($2 million) – have been included at least once in a previous ballot, some dating to the 1950s.
In addition, each of the 10 projects listed in the measure requires varying competitive application and bidding processes. Some see grants delivered directly to municipalities and others see bidding, engineering and/or construction secured by the state.
A proponent of the referendum that advocated for the inclusion of the coastal resiliency, clean drinking water and wastewater-treatment funds is Providence-based nonprofit Save The Bay.
Topher Hamblett, Save The Bay’s director of advocacy, said “Question No. 3 is an investment in what’s best about Rhode Island.”
Commenting on the state’s economic reliance on its natural resources, he added, “Think of all the businesses and people who rely on a clean and healthy Narragansett Bay.”
Inclusion of the wastewater-treatment project was a must for Hamblett after the 2010 floods overpowered, and literally put underwater, Warwick’s wastewater-treatment facility.
Events of that size, said Hamblett, are “more likely to happen” in the future as the result of climate change and the “cities and towns which operate these plants need assistance.”
He also applauds the inclusion of coastal-resiliency funds, especially ones that require cities and towns to have “skin in the game” by matching or, in some part, funding projects in tandem with the state.
For example, he said, Bristol County Water Authority plans to “abandon” its “century-old” backup water-supply system – a dam – to decrease flooding risks, among other reasons. However, the entity “needs assistance” to do so.
“Funds from the bond [could] help agencies [such as] the BCWA cover the costs” of environmental projects such as this, he said, and aid them in qualifying for matching federal dollars.
Coit agrees, saying it’s important the funding model shows cities and towns prioritize these projects as highly as the state agencies implementing them.
Calling the referendum “a great first shot,” Hamblett said “it can get some projects started,” but a constant focus on natural-resource strategy is necessary while “the environment is under assault” by the federal government.
For Rhode Island, a state heavily dependent on its natural resources, “We have to protect the gains we’ve made,” said Hamblett. “Backsliding is not an option.”
While he says he and Save The Bay “take nothing for granted,” Hamblett is confident the referendum will pass. Historically, he said, similar measures have done so with “60-70 percent approval ratings.”
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STATEWIDE ISSUES: Pictured are examples of items at schools throughout the state in need of repair, including deteriorated lockers and auditorium seats at Classical High School in Providence and damaged ceiling tiles at Rogers High School in Newport. / PBN FILE PHOTOS/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
LOCAL SCHOOLS
In addition to receiving state funds for the renovation of existing public school facilities throughout the capital city, Providence residents will also have the opportunity to vote on up to $160 million in general-obligation bonds to further those efforts.
If passed, the measure – Funding the School Capital Improvements Plan for fiscal years 2019-2024 – is subject to state school housing aid at a reimbursement rate of “not less than 75 percent.” Currently, per the city, Providence enjoys an 83 percent state school housing-aid reimbursement rate.
That means, for every $100 the city invests in its public school facilities, the state will reimburse it $83.
Reimbursement rates vary from city to city across Rhode Island.
Among the capital’s 41 schools, said Providence Public Schools Superintendent Christopher N. Maher, who has served in the role for two years, “There have been decades of neglect supporting school infrastructure.”
In its September 2017 survey, RIDE reported a total $2.2 billion in public school facility deficiencies. According to the findings, the capital is both the largest district in the state and accounts for the “greatest facility deficiency cost” at $372.4 million.
Some of the buildings currently in use across the city, said Maher, were built in the 19th century and designed for career preparation in a factory-style environment.
He called them “antiquated and inadequate.”
Emphasizing the need for updates, he said: “We want the 21st-century instruction [currently implemented in the curriculum] to be reflected in 21st-century spaces.”
While he feels “every one of [the city’s] schools needs help,” Maher specifically cited concerns from parents about sending their children to Classical High School because of the “condition of the physical facilities.” Classical was the sole high school in the state to receive Blue Ribbon status from the U.S. Department of Education in 2017, but its status was not renewed in the 2018 findings.
While both the statewide and citywide bonds target upgrades to public educational facilities, they are not mutually exclusive. Projects for which local communities seek funding through city and town ballot measures are separate from those that would be funded under Question No. 1, if approved.
Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza, who is seeking re-election this year, said the state and city referenda – if passed – would “complement each other.”
Without increasing its current debt-service payments, Elorza said the city referendum and requested state funds, if passed, will allow Providence to invest between $160 million and $250 million in the city’s public school system “in the next five years.”
To date, Elorza’s office and the city’s public school system have put $178,000 toward referendum passage by hiring architecture, engineering and educational facilities consultancy Studio JAED to engage the community in ongoing school-facilities planning. Studio JAED, which has offices in Providence, was first contracted in September 2017 and does not engage in advocacy, according to a city spokesperson.
Both Elorza and Maher support passage of the referendum.
Maher said “it’s very difficult to debate” the fact that Mt. Hope High School is covered with a net to protect students from crumbling bricks.
Elorza, meanwhile, said previous administrations’ wait-for-it-to-break-then-fix-it attitude was “not only nonstrategic but more expensive.”
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BOND DECISIONS: Rhode Island voters will decide on three ballot measures in the Nov. 6 election totaling about $367 million in bonds: $250 million to upgrade primary- and secondary-education public schools; $70 million in renovations and new construction at the University of Rhode and Rhode Island College; and $47 million for green-economy and clean-water projects. / PBN GRAPHIC/LISA LAGRECA[/caption]
NO ‘PLAN B’
School departments across Rhode Island are following the state’s lead on school repairs. Besides Providence, seven other communities – Cumberland, East Providence, Jamestown, North Kingstown, Pawtucket, Smithfield and Warwick – will also levy educational-facility renovation and construction bonds on their 2018 ballots.
The bond requests are: Cumberland ($83 million), East Providence ($189.5 million), Jamestown ($5.9 million), North Kingstown ($27 million), Pawtucket ($220 million), Smithfield ($45 million) and Warwick ($40 million).
For many local superintendents, such referenda are the only way to afford major projects, which they say have been put off for decades.
“We do not have a clear Plan B,” said North Kingstown Superintendent Philip Auger of the possibility of the referendum not passing.
Three townwide questions, one of which is focused on school repair, will appear on the North Kingstown ballot in November. At $27 million, if passed, the school referendum will be evenly split between school-facility repairs and town projects.
There’s “something for everyone” in the school measure, explained Auger, which he hopes “means more yes votes than no.”
Auger said the school’s priorities are air conditioning for the second and third floors of North Kingstown High School, as well as resurfacing the track and a turf field, and replacing all the windows at Davisville Middle School.
At $40 million, the sole local referendum on Warwick’s ballot will ask voters to approve a bond funding multiple renovations – and it’s just the start. The 2018 bond, said Superintendent Philip Thornton, is the first of two planned requests on behalf of the school department totaling $85 million.
The second bond, he said, requires City Council approval and is still “a couple years out.”
Thornton balks at the addition to the statewide referendum supported by Fung requiring school departments to fund ongoing maintenance for projects receiving state reimbursement. He called the school district’s budget “limited” and added the $500,000 it set aside for capital projects is already “allocated” for improvements to PA systems and existing infrastructure.
In Cumberland, the town stands to pay just $29 million of an $83 million school-repair bond request, after receipt of state reimbursements, according to Superintendent Robert Mitchell. It is one of nine questions on the Cumberland ballot.
Calling it “a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Mitchell said there hasn’t been a lot of time spent on a backup plan.
“We’re focusing a lot on Plan A,” he said.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, Gowdey-backus@PBN.com.
