Capital Construction Funding for School Districts and School-Based Health Centers

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The 2015 legislative session resulted in some funding opportunities for school districts that are considering new construction or renovation of school facilities, including school-based health centers.

House Bill 5005 allocated $125 million in bonds to provide matching grants for school districts that receive voter approval for local bonds and $175 million to provide seismic upgrades and retrofits to K-12, community college and university buildings. These are two different funding programs and will be managed by two different offices.

Senate Bill 447 created the Office of School Facilities (OSF) within the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to administer the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching (OSCIM) Program. The seismic funding will be managed by the Oregon Business Development Department.

This information focuses on the OSCIM Program that will be administered by ODE. While the OSF will not officially exist until January 2016, ODE is already working to implement the legislation.

Three funding sources will be administered and two two will be available this biennium:
  • Grants to assist school districts in capital planning, technical assistance, and assessments - $1.76 million
    • Up to $20,000 for physical facility assessments;
    • Up to $25,000 for seismic assessments; and
    • Up to $25,000 for long-range facilities planning.
  • OSCIM Program - Matching grants for capital construction - $123 million
  • Hardship grants that will assist school districts with facility issues that are less than $500K – funding will not be available until 2017-19

OSCIM Program - Matching Grants
 
  • The school district must request local funding from a bond measure.
    • Bond measures that were passed prior to the May 2016 election will not qualify for the program.
    • The intent is to incentivize the community to pass local bond measures through the incentive of a state match.
    • Only general obligation bonds issued by the school district qualify as the local contribution – no other type funding can be matched with state funds.
  • $4 million is the threshold the State could match the funding $1 for $1.
  • For local bonds above $4.0 million, the state matching ratio will be based on a funding formula with a not to exceed matching grant of $8.0 million.
  • The funding allocation will be linked to each bond election, so there will be opportunities around May 2016, November 2016, and May 2017. ODE will begin taking applications for a portion of the $123 million in mid-December. Funding commitments will be made in late January and actual awards will be based on the outcome of the May 2016 elections
  • Priority List
    • 60% of funds will be allocated to priority schools. The Task Force on School Capital Improvement Planning, established by SB540 during the 2013 Legislative Session, created a list that will be updated periodically. ODE will release the list sometime after 10/13/15.
    • Allocations will be given to those communities that submit a complete application and rank the highest on the priority list. Those communities that have a viable bond measure proposal that is ready for May, should prepare to submit an application in December.
  • 40% of funds will be allocated on a first come first served basis. These funds will be allocated to school districts that submit completed applications but were not chosen under the priority list allocation. The basis of the allocation will be on the time in which they were submitted – First In Process.
  • School-Based Health Center construction or rehabilitation can be a part of any bond measure proposed by a school district and therefore qualify for the matching funds.

For more information contact ODE

Michael Elliott, School Finance Fiscal Analyst, 503-947-5627, michael.s.elliott@ode.state.or.us

Rick Crager, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Administration, 503-947-5658, rick.crager@ode.state.or.us

Michael Wiltfong, Director of School Finance and School Facilities, 503-947-5914, michael.wiltfong@ode.state.or.us

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