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Sunday, Oct. 04, 2009

3 Clark elementaries among Ky.'s most inadequate facilities

MAKING DO, BREAKING DOWN

This is the third in an occasional series of stories about the systems, institutions and processes in the state that are barely able to function and are in danger of breaking down.

WINCHESTER — When teachers crank up the computer lab's air conditioning at Central Elementary School, someone must plop a bucket in the hallway to catch the condensation water that starts falling from the gaping hole in the ceiling.

At nearby Fannie Bush Elementary School, dozens of desks are pushed together in classrooms nearly 20 percent smaller than recommended. The 275 students share one set of boys and girls bathrooms. Some classes are held out back in rotting, wind-rattled trailers.

Built more than half a century ago, Central and Fannie Bush are two of 18 Kentucky schools currently classified as Category 5 by the state Education Department.

On a 1-to-5 scale, they are the oldest and most decrepit of the state's roughly 1,200 school buildings. All are at least 40 years old. Some date back to the 1920s, with creaky wood floors, leaky roofs, inadequate coal-fired heat and antiquated plumbing. Few have classrooms of sufficient size or that are wired for modern teaching standards.

The schools briefly were in the news in June as the legislature debated allowing slot machines at racetracks. House Speaker Greg Stumbo said his slots bill would generate $850 million to replace all schools in Category 5 — Stumbo called them "awful" — and some of the nearly 200 schools in Category 4 that are barely any better.

But the slots bill died, and the legislature adjourned until January.

Meanwhile, thousands of children started classes this fall at crumbling, cramped schools. This comes 20 years after the state Supreme Court ruled in a landmark school-funding decision that "students must be given equal educational opportunities, regardless of economic status or place of residence."

Most Kentucky schools are in categories 1, 2 or 3, which means they're in excellent, good or average shape. They were built in the last 30 years or had major renovations.

In prosperous Fayette County, for example, three-fourths of schools are in categories 1 and 2. But poor and rural Robertson County has a single school to hold all grades. It was built shortly after World War I, and it's a Category 5 with a laundry list of problems that complicate daily life for students.

"We've tried to add on where we could and do repairs. But at some point, there's not a lot more you can do for an 80-year-old building other than keep repainting it," said Jeremy McCloud, principal of Robertson County's Deming School.

Finding the money

State and local school officials and lawmakers say they're trying to address the problem of aging schools as best they can given the sour economy.

Kentucky has seen progress in replacing or renovating Category 5 schools, although that's small consolation to a child now enrolled in one, said Mark Ryles, facilities management director at the state Education Department.

The number of such schools has dropped by nearly half since 2003, when the legislature established the Urgent Needs Trust Fund. In three rounds of funding, ending in 2006, lawmakers approved $275 million in bonding authority to address many of the worst schools in more than 50 school districts, according to the department.

However, lawmakers say they're unable to replenish the fund because there is no more money or bonding capacity. House Democrats unsuccessfully sponsored a bill last winter to appropriate tens of millions of dollars for Category 5 schools in a few specific counties.

Inaction aggravates the problem, said Rep. Tommy Thompson, D-Owensboro, who chairs the House budget subcommittee for education.

Every year, Category 4 schools grow older and more decrepit, Thompson said. The state uses architectural surveys to classify the schools, but many lawmakers suspect they have Category 4 schools in their districts that should be dropped one rank and replaced, he said.

"We all agree that we really need to revisit this," Thompson said. "It's critical that we give our children the best environment in which to learn. Unfortunately, we sometimes fail to do that."