Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Facilities Systems And Financing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves Facilities Construction Commission cloud migration and explains expedited local partnership credits for districts
Summary
The Controlling Board approved FCC funding to update a school‑facilities planning and maintenance system and approved an expedited local partnership program (ELPP) financing approach that lets districts self‑fund parts of master plans and receive state credit toward later projects.
The Controlling Board approved two Ohio Facilities Construction Commission items: a cloud‑migration and update of the agency’s facilities-planning and maintenance application used by all school districts, and continuation of an accelerated local partnership program that credits districts for up-front investment in parts of their master facilities plans.
AJ Thomas, FCC legislative liaison, and agency staff said the application — used for enrollment estimates, building assessments, cost calculators and on‑track facility maintenance modules — has been the planning system for about 25 years and the upgrade will move the system into a cloud environment for security and operational reasons. “This is our main application that we have used for the last 25 years and we're just continuing to update the application to make sure that it is being used in a safe environment,” an FCC representative said.
On the expedited local partnership program (ELPP), FCC staff explained how credits work: a district may choose to self‑fund a portion of its master plan (for example, an elementary school) if it is projected to be five years from state funding eligibility. The district’s up‑front spending on an ELPP segment is credited toward state matching for later segments. The agency said the local‑state funding split is determined when a district enters ELPP and that the proportional split does not change for subsequent segments.
Board action: Both FCC items were approved with no objections. Senator Ingram asked how maintenance planning and assessments are done and whether districts pay for modules; agency staff said on‑track facility maintenance is a module of the system and that districts do not pay for these maintenance modules (agency to follow up for details).
Next steps: FCC will proceed with cloud migration and software updates and will continue ELPP operations; the agency said it would follow up with the board on fee and district participation details as requested.
