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School leaders urge state to cover PCB testing and remediation costs, pause expansion until funding secured
Summary
Principals and superintendents told the committee PCB testing and mitigation are consuming district staff time and budgets; they asked the state to fund testing/mitigation and to avoid expanding testing without a reimbursement plan for districts already identified.
School officials told the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 24 that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) testing and remediation have become a major operational burden for districts and that the state should assume mitigation costs.
Why it matters: Witnesses said districts already identified with PCB issues are incurring ongoing testing and mitigation expenses that can run into the thousands per year and are diverting staff time from instruction. They warned that expanding testing without a funding and mitigation plan would leave districts “on the hook.”
What was said: Jay Nichols and Chelsea Myers both urged that the state pay for remediation and mitigation. Nichols said some schools “are in the EPA land where they're gonna be tested every couple years, and we're talking 100 of 1,000 of dollars for those schools until they no longer have a building.” Myers echoed that districts feel “on the hook” and advocated halting testing expansion until the state clarifies funding and support for schools already identified.
Context: Myers and other witnesses described examples such as a district that had to use temporary structures because of contamination and said district administrators are devoting full-time effort to navigate EPA requirements and remediation plans.
Ending: Witnesses asked the committee to consider state-funded mitigation and to weigh the fiscal and administrative consequences before expanding testing.
