Following a record year for school building aid applications in New Hampshire, state legislators are introducing bills this month aimed at increasing the amount of funding available for school construction and renovation projects.

One of the bills, HB541, would increase the amount of school building aid to a minimum of $50 million per year starting in 2025. Currently the state caps the amount it provides for building aid at a $50 million. The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Mary Jane Wallner, a Concord Democrat, also locks in $100 million for 2024 and 2025.

“I think all of us are from communities that have either had to face construction or renovation or will in the future,” Wallner told the House Finance Committee Tuesday. “A lot of our school buildings in New Hampshire are needing updating or needing to be completely renovated and new construction put in place.”

Five different bills have been filed in the state legislature this month relating to school building aid funding, which reimburses a portion of a school district’s construction costs. A similar bill, HB546, sponsored by Haverhill Republican Rep. Rick Ladd, would make $50 million the minimum amount that can be appropriated for school building aid. And HB332, sponsored by Newmarket Democratic Rep. Michael Cahill, seeks to increase the minimum to $60 million.

In 2022 the state received applications for 17 different school projects, the largest number of applications received since the building aid moratorium which lasted from 2011 to 2020. The projects total $227.7 million in aid requests, but the School Building Authority estimates only the top three school districts – Rochester, Colebrook and Monadnock Regional – will receive grants, due to limited funding.

The Concord School District’s Rundlett Middle School building project was ranked fourth on the list for building aid, a placement that makes its likelihood of funding low. In December, the Concord superintendent and School Board members urged lawmakers to enact legislation to expand building aid amounts, to give the district a chance at funding their project.

Concord Superintendent Kathleen Murphy and school business administrator Jack Dunn testified in support of Wallner’s bill at Tuesday’s House Finance Committee meeting. In her testimony, Murphy argued that funding school buildings benefits cities and towns economically, because state-of-the-art facilities attract new families to live in the area and also attract teachers at a time when many New Hampshire districts are facing hiring difficulties.

“I often get calls from families. They’re new to the District...they always ask to visit the schools,” Murphy said. “Why do they do that? They want to know where their children are going to be every day. They want to know what kind of building it is. Is it safe? Does it have the accommodations? Does it meet the needs of our new learners? We take particular time to give tours and explain the facilities and the availability of those facilities.”

Additionally, she said, old school facilities can be sold to private owners and will end up back on the property tax rolls, like Concord’s former Walker School building on Church Street, which is now owned by Binnie Media.

In other bills being proposed this session, legislators are seeking to allow charter schools to receive building aid grants, through HB354 sponsored by Merrimack Republican Rep. Maureen Mooney. Charter schools are currently not eligible for the building aid program.

Other legislators are seeking to revise the building aid application process, as state officials have said the time frame they’re currently given to review applications and determine the ranked list is too short. Under the current timeline, schools submit their applications for building aid by July 1 every year, and the Department of Education reviews and submits a ranked list to the School Building Authority, which presents a ranked list to the State Board of Education by Dec. 1.

A bill filed this month, HB452, seeks to change the timeline for the Department of Education’s school building aid application review process, so schools would submit their applications by April 1, the Department of Education would send its ranked list to the School Building Authority by Aug. 1, and the School Building Authority would submit their ranked list to the State Board of Education by Oct. 15.

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