Mesa presentation: State Building Renewal Grant falls short of $1.4 billion in district needs
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Summary
District staff told the board the state Building Renewal Grant (BRG) helped with $61 million in projects since 2019 but is insufficient: Mesa Public Schools faces roughly $1.4 billion in capital needs and a $190 million funding gap this year, with a $25 million BRG balance and multiyear waitlists.
Mike Moore, Mesa Public Schools director of facilities, told the governing board at a Nov. 14 study session that the state Building Renewal Grant, commonly called the BRG, targets school facilities that fail to meet minimum adequacy guidelines. "The purpose is to maintain adequacy in our existing school facilities," Moore said, listing site drainage, safety, classroom temperature, acoustics, fire alarms and building systems as typical MAG deficiencies.
Moore said the district has leveraged the BRG since 2019 and "we've received over $61,000,000 in awarded projects," much of it for roofing. He warned the BRG budget is far smaller than district needs: "We currently have about $1,400,000,000 in capital needs throughout our district," and estimated about half of that total stems from deferred maintenance dating to recession-era capital reductions.
Moore described the statewide picture: the BRG program has seen one-time supplemental appropriations over the years but the legislature is only statutorily obligated to provide $16.6 million annually. "The BRG program currently, the remaining balance is about $25,000,000 right now," he said, and noted roughly 720 eligible grants in the portal totaling about $216 million — leaving a roughly $190 million gap for the year and multi-year waiting periods.
Board members pressed Moore on causes and prioritization. "Do we have any idea what portion of that $1.4 billion is because of deferred maintenance?" asked Dr. Strom; Moore responded, "I would say it represents about half of that $1,400,000,000." He explained MAG scoring and that the School Facilities Division prioritizes projects that are outright failing over maintenance items.
Moore emphasized preventive maintenance requirements for eligibility: campuses must provide annual preventive maintenance reports and complete checklists that demonstrate routine stewardship before projects are considered. He also flagged a programmatic limit: the state has begun conversations about funding demolition for schools at the end of useful life but "there's no funding to support the rebuild in that end of use of life policy."
The presentation described a recent Harris Elementary roof replacement funded by the state facilities board for $2.5 million after the roof had effectively failed, and Moore warned the district risks accumulating larger deferred-maintenance liabilities if it relies only on BRG awards. He said Mesa will continue to submit eligible projects while pursuing locally controlled and predictable capital funding solutions.
The board did not take formal action on the presentation; members thanked Moore and recommended further briefing on litigation and legislative developments that have affected capital funding.