COUNTY - The South Shore Regional School Board may wind up with less than its fair share of funding for capital facility upgrades because its former elected members abandoned a formal, year-long review process last March.

 "One of the things that concerns me is the Department of Education will be looking for justifications for anything that we request," said board member Judith Sullivan-Corney at a January 25 meeting.

 "I think it's safe to say they'll be looking for what schools have been reviewed, and they'll say, 'If you want something done at this particular school, where's your business case for it?'"

 Director of finances Wade Tattrie said $10 million is available from the Department of Education for capital projects in 2012-13, but that "we basically have to argue our case against all the other school boards for this $10 million."

 According to the department, the preliminary criteria for these projects include those which are anticipated to be required as a result of school reviews which have identified programming benefits for students or reducing operating costs.

 "I'm worried about that because all the other school boards did school reviews, so they'll be able to use that as evidence and will be able to say they have determined this school is going to stay open," said Ms Sullivan-Corney.

 "We could make a similar argument, but where we haven't done the school review and the analysis that goes along with that, they may not look upon our request in quite the same way."

 Schools Plus, skilled trades or community initiatives and programming are also eligible for this funding, which has an application deadline in April.

 "All requests will be considered," said Department of Education spokesman Peter McLaughlin.

 "That said, it is definitely helpful to have school utilization and assessment reports when we are considering board requests for funding."

 Assessment reports are part of the formal review process.

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 The department is also considering capital funding requests this spring for 2013-14, based on the following preliminary criteria:

 - The condition of the existing facility and the value that exists for investment in its continued use.

 - The capacity of the existing facility and the costs required to increase capacity if required.

 - Suitability of the existing facility for programming and the costs required to allow it to deliver the required programming.

 - Projects which address both infrastructure and programming needs will warrant additional consideration.

 - Projects which are required or are anticipated to be required as a result of school reviews that have identified programming benefits for students or reduced operating costs.

 - Projects which facilitate the provision of Schools Plus, skilled trades or community initiatives and programming.

 - Projects which meet any of the above considerations and help ensure that educational programming can continue to be provided in an existing community (greater use of Primary to Grade 8, Grade 9 to 12, or Primary to 12 facility configurations).

 "It is anticipated that Treasury Board will require business cases to be completed for all requested priorities," said a January 12 document from the Department of Education.

 "Priorities are to be submitted to the department by April 20."

 The Department encouraged a mixture of new schools and renovation projects.

 Meanwhile, there is also $4 million on the table for 2012-13 until February 13 for emergency repairs, health and safety issues and energy retrofits.

 "Senior management has gone through a process of identifying a majority of the projects they want to put forward," said Mr. Tattrie.

 "We just have to sit down and finalize that list."

 Finally, there is a $2 million envelope of cash for estimating and scoping future capital projects.

 "That will help us in narrowing down exactly what we need and what the costs are for larger projects."

posted on 02/01/12