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PSBA representative says state cut to Plancon leaves schools paying 100% of construction costs
Summary
A PSBA representative told a meeting that the Plancon school construction reimbursement program was defunded about 10 years ago and, despite a 2019 legislative revamp, received no funding; the speaker said that has left local districts fully responsible for construction and renovation costs and that PSBA will pursue legislative attention.
A PSBA representative said Plancon — "the school construction and reimbursement program" — was defunded about 10 years ago and has not been restored, leaving local school districts to shoulder capital costs.
"Plancon was the school construction and reimbursement program," the PSBA representative said. "The state defunded that program around 10 years ago." The speaker said there was a subsequent expectation the state would reinstate or revamp the program, but "it hasn't really happened."
The representative said the program was revised in 2019 but that the state did not allocate money to the revamped Plancon. "In 2019, the program was revamped legislatively, but the state never put funding into the new Plancon program," the speaker said.
The speaker warned of the practical effects on local budgets: "So what ends up happening is schools locally are a 100% responsible for the cost of any school construction, renovation, projects, things like that," and added that "a lot of schools just simply can't afford to do those projects without some estate assistance." The representative framed school facilities as a top policy problem: "school facilities has really emerged as 1 of the biggest and most pressing issues facing public education."
"And I think legislatively, that's something we at PSBA are going to be looking at going into the future," the speaker said, indicating the association intends to pursue the issue with lawmakers. No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript provided.
