When the state School Building
Authority meets Monday, they’ll consider an old way of doing things. When the
authority first starting handing out millions of dollars in funding for new
school construction and renovation more than two decades ago, counties would
come to the SBA at the end of the year. The funding cycle was eventually
changed to April.
New SBA Executive Director Dr.
David Sneed said he will propose switching things back to the way it used to
be.
“In April, we wouldn’t fund
projects this year as we normally would. We would wait until December,”
explained the executive director.
There’s a good reason for that
according to Sneed. It comes down to money.
“It has been determined that it’s
actually cheaper, our bids are lower, if we bid projects before June the
first,” he said.
That has to do with the
construction season and the cost of materials and manpower. Currently there’s
more than $2 billion in school construction needs across the state. During this
year’s funding cycle, the SBA had $43 million to hand out. That went to seven
counties. It’s proof, according to Sneed, that every dollar counts.
