Community will be asked to weigh in on HB521 spending plan

After spending a good part of the summer running numbers on potential uses for $5.6 million from a one time, 10-year state facilities funding plan, Weiser School District Superintendent Kenneth Dewlen presented his conclusions at the Aug. 12 monthly WSD trustees meeting.

 Leading into his powerpoint presentation, Dewlen reminded the board the 10-year facilities plan came out of the passage of HB521, legislation signed into law at the end of Idaho’s 2024 state legislative session. He said WSD’s deputy clerk Barbara Choate had told him that day the district will get approximately $5.6 million from the funding bill, adding that the state is asking districts to look first at what in their facilities are rated in poor and fair condition.

 “You remember last year, Dr. Boucher (from the University of Idaho) went through our facilities and did the same, so we were able to use 80 percent of his documentation as I put this plan together,” Dewlen said. “The (remaining) 20 percent that I didn’t use, the state has asked above and beyond what Dr. Boucher gave us.

 “You’re going to see my recommendations at the very end,” Dewlen said. “Then I’m asking for your recommendations, and we’ll take what you recommend and shoot it out to the community to run a survey for two weeks. I’ll take what they say, talk to you again, and then turn it all into the state. Then we’ll sit back and wait on our money.”

 Going through each of Weiser’s four school plant ratings individually, Dewlen found some common areas of specific upgrade needs across the four plant facilities amounting to parking lots, roofs, fire suppression sprinkler systems, and LED lighting.

 But, particularly to the high school, Dewlen told the board that in the 2023-2024 school year, the student population at WHS was 25 students short of needing to set up classroom spaces in gymnasiums.

 “Maybe this year, too,” he said. “We won’t know until about the fourth day in school. With this money we are able to add to our buildings, so I did some research and we can get two portable units for $530,000, plus another $80,000 for their complete set up,” he said. “If it gets that bad we’re going to have to entertain portables. I know we don’t want to, but we can’t go out and ask constituents right now for an $80 million bond for a new school. It’s just not going to happen, so the next best thing is portables.”

 Each of the portables would hold two classrooms, with a capacity of 25 students per classroom, Dewlen said.

 He broke down his final recommendations as follows: roofs, $1.65 million; parking lots, $804,121; LED lights, $24,035; fire suppression sprinklers, $2.68 million; and portables, $610,000; for a total of $5,768,156.

 “Do you remember how much money we had? Approximately $5.6 million,” Dewlen said. “You guys are going to have to give me your recommendations from these top five, and then I’ll go through and (adjust) some stuff off to get us at $5.6 million. Then I’ll shoot what you guys have said out to the community. This is supposed to be a 10-year plan, so how do you want to spread it out?”

 Towards the end of last week, Dewlen told the Signal American he anticipates the survey will be out to the community within two weeks, but couldn’t indicate at that point the manner in which it would be made available.