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WHEELING -- Renovations at Woodsdale Elementary School and the Warwood School are on hold after the West Virginia School Building Authority Tuesday rejected Ohio County Schools' $9 million request to fund the projects.
Ohio County Schools had accounted for $27 million in funding from the SBA over a three year period to help cover costs for $76 million in property improvements across the school district.
The school district applied for, and received, the first $9 million in December 2018, applied for the next $9 million this year and had anticipated applying for and receiving the final $9 million in late 2020.
Voters in 2018 passed a bond to provide $42.2 million for the overall project, with projected energy savings being factored in to cover the remainder needed for construction.
The Warwood and Woodsdale school projects were scheduled to go out for bid next month.
Superintendent Kim Miller traveled to Charleston for the bid announcements Tuesday morning, and discussed the school district's next move by phone as she returned to Wheeling.
"There was a lapse in spending with the School Building Authority," she said. "Other projects came in with greater needs than ours. We will just keep working on this, and hit them up next year for $18 million.
"It will be just a little delay. Only two projects are being held up -- Woodsdale and Warwood. We only take a positive approach. We will keep working, and keep pressing for a positive outcome."
The school district will continue to prepare for the projects, but they will be on a delayed schedule, she said.
"It is disappointing," she said. "When funding was cut, there was not as much money available at the SBA as anticipated. There were others ahead of us.
"This is not the end. This is just a delay."
The SBA had $29,781,615 to award on Tuesday. Last year, that figure exceeded over $72 million; and in 2017, $50 million, according to Ben Ashley, SBA director of architecture services.
Fayette County Schools received $20,012,448 to construct the new Meadow Bridge school; Harrison County Schools,$6,130,000 for an addition to Gore Elementary School; and Marion County Schools, $1,557,325 for an addition to East Dale Elementary School.
The total came to $27,719,773. Ashley said the remaining dollars are being held back to cover cost overruns on a Monroe County, W.Va. project funded last year that exceeded budget expectations. If not needed, this money could be allocated in the spring along with any supplemental allocations from the legislature the SBA might receive.
"We (were) awarded three projects. The money didn't make it around the state as it usually does," he said. "Last year, we funded a lot of multi-year projects, and that was something we had done over the past few years. We decided that was not a prudent exercise. We now are only spending money for projects this year."
The change in philosophy is why there was less money available from the SBA this year, according to Ashley.
"We liked the project, and we like the projects last year," he said of those from Ohio County Schools. "But with the need in the other three counties, they were prioritized above Ohio County. It was really close, but that is what the authority chose."