YATESVILLE — The Pittston Area Board of Education issued a resolution Tuesday to apply for approximately $1.45 million from the state’s Public School Facility Improvement Grant program. A description of the grant application provided in the school board’s agenda indicates that the grant will be used in the second phase of roof repairs at Pittston Area Senior High School.
Pittston Area Superintendent Kevin Booth described the high school roofing project as a proactive one. He said the project involved sealing and could help avoid the district needing to do a more extensive project in the future, such as a replacement.
“It’s just to seal the roof…(otherwise) we would have to go and do a total rip out and redo a roof,” Booth said after the school board meeting Tuesday. “This would kind of be a preemptive sealing of the existing roof to extend the life of the roof.”
The state Department of Community & Economic Development administers the Public School Facility Improvement Grant program, awarding the grants to school districts and career and technical schools to fund certain capital projects. In addition to roof repairs and replacements, eligible projects include those affecting boilers; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; a school’s internet connection; plumbing; and windows. The grant also funds demolitions as well as initiatives to improve accessibility, energy efficiency, health, or safety. Each project must cost at least $500,000 to be considered eligible.
The Public School Facility Improvement grant is competitive and Pittston Area is not alone in seeking out funds among school districts in Luzerne County. Hanover Area School District has two outstanding applications for Public School Facility Improvement grants, according to a presentation submitted to the school board earlier this month. It is seeking out a total of $4.45 million to fund repairs to the Hanover Area High School roof and to make HVAC upgrades.
Crestwood, likewise, has applied for a $3.84 million grant to install new air conditioning throughout parts of its secondary school. Wyoming Valley West, which has eyed major capital projects across its school facilities, is seeking the maximum $5 million grant award from the Public School Facility Improvement program to convert its Third Avenue school from an elementary school into a special education center.
Though $5 million is the absolute maximum award, the size of the grant is also bound by total project costs. The state grant funding can cover at most three quarters of the project cost, while the school district applying for the grant must cover at least one quarter.
Given the competition for the grant, some have said they expect for school districts receive less than the typical amount. Crestwood Business Manager Thomas Benz, while discussing his district’s application for a Public School Facility Improvement grant at a school board meeting earlier this month, cautioned the board to temper its expectations for a grant award. He said it was rare for the commonwealth to award the full $5 million, with it only doing so a couple times last cycle, with awarded Public School Facility Improvement grants tending to come in between $1 million and $2 million.