New legislation in the state of New Hampshire is about to go into effect, and public schools will be required to plead their case when they need construction work done on their learning facilities. Until now, the state government approved all requests for construction aid, as there have been no limits on this budget since 1955, The Associated Press reports.
Now, the government will assess individual requests and determine if a school will receive funds based on a ranking system that rates projects on importance and cost. The AP states the annual budget will be roughly $50 million, but only $6.2 million can be allocated to new projects. The rest of this year's funds will be allocated to help pay some of the debts accrued by past projects, and this trend will continue on until the debts are paid off. More money should become available for new projects over the years, as N.H. pays off the debt. There's approximately $540 million owed for 360 separate projects that are taking place throughout the state.
One such project is the construction of a brand new elementary school in Unity, N.H. Work began on this project months ago, but the operation was put on hold in late June when the architectural plans were not given to the fire marshal by the June 20 deadline, according to Fox10-TV. Architect Scott Vaughn got the plans in by July 12, and he said it took a bit longer than expected because they included changes such as using cement mixers to make cast-in-place concrete walls instead of installing preconstructed concrete walls.
Any schools approved for monetary aid from the state will, under the new system, receive 80 percent of their funding right away. The rest will be handed over after the work has been completed and the government has double-checked the final cost of the project. Another stipulation with the new ordinance is that any school build within the new system must remain a public learning institution for at least 20 years. Should a school close down prior to that time, the local taxpayers will be held responsible for repaying the government aid.
Since getting government aid for construction is now going to be much harder than it once was, schools will have to compete against one another to show the state why their particular needs are more important than others. The guidelines for this competition have not been finalized, but interim rules will go into effect in early November.
