High School District Eyes Series of Construction Projects

The Ramapo Indian Hills district is hoping that newly available state funding will push forward a series of capital improvement projects that for years have been on the backburner.

The board of education voted Monday night to authorize the preparation of architectural plans for the projects, which include masonry work, HVAC upgrades, and locker room renovations at both schools. Business administrator Frank Ceurvels estimated that engineering plans for the work would cost around $4,000 for each project.

“These are all the projects we talk about every year,” he said, adding that the list consisted of “top priority items that we have been tackling in bits and pieces.”

In 2010, the district was forced to cut it’s budget by $1.8 million, or 1.6 percent, after the state slashed over $2 million in expected funding for the schools. According to budget records, the district has made up little more than half of that to date.

The hope is that with available state funding covering 40 percent of chosen capital improvements, the district may be able to tackle a bigger chunk of the sought for renovations.

“Some of the things would not be on this list without the state matching 40 percent,” board member John Butto said, noting that the funding cuts have curtailed the district in efforts to make capital improvements.

Ceurvels noted that some of the projects, like the locker room renovations, might not be considered a high priority for the state, but that the district is likely to receive grants, as it has in the past, to cover some of the 11 proposed improvements.

“The last two times they did this, they had enough funding to go around for all tier one projects,” Ceurvels said Monday night, referring to projects determined by the state to be of a high educational priority.

The applications for funding are due by September, he said, and “optimistically” the district would hear back from the state in November. The board would then have 18 months to secure the balance of the funding to move forward with the projects.