Inside Report for Dec. 21, 2011

Inside Report

Born from hard economic times, the federal stimulus-funded Qualified School Construction Bond program has provided the Ascension Parish School System the opportunity to stretch its dollars — and school officials are taking full advantage of that opportunity.

But that opportunity requires some creative budgeting, a process still in the works, said Chad Lynch, who oversees school planning and construction for the school district.

Lynch’s department has faced a looming deadline to build turn lanes in front of two of its newer schools — Spanish Lake and Central primaries, both built with general obligation bonds approved in 2005.

The district, however, lacked the funds for the turn lanes, which are expected to cost between $400,000 and $500,000 each, he said.

This year’s QSCB award for Ascension schools was $1.4 million, Lynch said ­— more than enough to cover the turn lane costs, but the turn lane project is technically not eligible.

“There are tight restrictions on how QSCB funds can be spent,” Lynch said. Projects must be on school grounds to qualify, he said, and the turn lanes aren’t close enough to meet the criteria.

In addition, QSCB funds come with an expiration date, Lynch said.

“A percentage of these funds have to be contractually committed within 90 days of getting the money,” he said.

For that reason, Lynch said, he has to be even more careful about choosing QSCB-eligible projects.

“Because of the time limit, I like to look for projects that have already been through some of the planning stages, and are pretty much ready to go,” Lynch said.

There are plenty of projects to choose from these days, he said, thanks to the $100 million bond issue passed by Ascension voters in 2009.

The 2009 bond is also dedicated to improving school campuses, Lynch said, but the language of the bond allows for improvements that affect campuses, though they might not be directly on campus.

“I intend to propose funding the Gonzales Middle and East Ascension High School campus renovations with QSCB funds at the next Facilities Management meeting,” Lynch said.

Those two projects were already funded by the 2009 general obligation bond, Lynch said.

If the School Board agrees, the Gonzales Middle and East Ascension renovations will be removed from the 2009 bond budget, and placed on the QSCB budget, freeing the 2009 bond funds for the two turn lane projects.

The board made a similar switch with last year’s QSCB award of $10 million, Lynch said.

The district used the majority of those funds to pay for a portion of the project to replace George Washington Carver Primary School in Gonzales, another 2009 bond project, Lynch said.

That enabled Lynch to move other qualified projects slated for the general fund budget into the 2009 bond budget, he said, taking them off the general fund’s budget.

The district broke ground on the $16 million Carver project in September.

The project is expected to be complete by the fall of 2013.

Since the October 2009 bond initiative was approved, the district has either spent or made plans to spend nearly $44.5 million on building improvement projects, according to the 2011-2012 budget.

Lynch said another $10 million in projects is in the planning stages.

The $100 million in bond projects will eventually affect 22 campuses in Ascension Parish over the next three years.

C.J. Futch covers the Ascension Parish school system for The Advocate’s River Parishes bureau. She can be reached at [e-mail].