The West Ada School District needs $1.1 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade and maintain its buildings, according to a long-range facilities assessment presented at Monday’s school board meeting. 

West Ada is the latest district to complete an assessment that’s required under House Bill 521. The state spending package — which the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Brad Little adopted earlier this year — will give Idaho’s 115 school districts $1 billion to finance new construction and major upgrades along with ongoing aid for locally-supported bonds and levies. 

The state’s largest school district, West Ada will receive the biggest share of the funds — about $140 million. District staff and trustees expressed gratitude for the state assistance Monday but acknowledged that it won’t be enough. More than seven times as much is necessary to address all of West Ada’s long-term construction and maintenance needs, the assessment showed.

“We’ll apply this money to those things the bill covers,” David Reinhart, West Ada’s chief operations officer, told the school board. And district staff “will find creative ways to maintain our buildings and continue to make them the great places they are.”

West Ada hired an independent contractor, Bureau Veritas, to complete the assessment. The international firm evaluated each of the district’s buildings and calculated short- and long-term upgrade costs for key systems like heating and air conditioning, roofing, electrical, plumbing and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. And a formula provided by the Idaho Department of Education calculated the total upgrade cost based in the condition assessment.

The verdict: $1.1 billion will be needed over 10 years, and $2.9 billion will be needed over 20 years.

Read the assessment here. 

West Ada trustees unanimously approved the assessment, sending it to the Department of Education for approval. Each school district must submit a similar review of its facilities needs before receiving its share of the HB 521 funds, which the state is mostly financing through a series of bonds backed by sales tax revenue. 

The Department of Education announced Tuesday that the first wave of bond proceeds was distributed on Oct. 30. Districts received a total of $514 million. Another wave is expected in December, followed by the final payment in February, a news release said. 

Schools are required to spend this money on new construction or major repairs for academic buildings. They can’t spend it on routine maintenance, staff salaries or athletic facility upgrades. 

Trustee David Binetti said he hopes West Ada patrons understand that the state support — through HB 521 and an earlier bill aimed at property tax relief — has eased school districts’ reliance on local taxpayers. But West Ada still has “a long way to go” to address its facilities needs. 

“This is a wonderful step. Thank you to everyone involved for helping make it work.”