A new state program governing the timeline for maintaining and upgrading school facilities will generate a discussion about funding facility maintenance at the Oak Harbor School Board meeting on Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Public input is welcome at this community discussion. The meeting will take place in the school district building, located at 350 S. Oak Harbor St.

The asset preservation program will generate facility needs to be taken care of before regular upgrades that are completed after the building has reached its 30-year life expectancy. If the school district doesn’t take care of some upgrades, it won’t receive state matching funds when the time comes for a complete facility upgrade, said Superintendent Rick Schulte.

Not all schools qualify for the program. North Whidbey Middle School and Oak Harbor High School do qualify, said Bruce Worley, facility support services executive director.

“This program is supposed to ensure the state that their state matching funds are being taken care of. In the past, this was not a requirement for receiving state match,” Worley said.

At the meeting, the board will discuss when and how to proceed with the district’s short- and long-term maintenance plans knowing maintenance will cost money and that the district doesn’t have a source of revenue for that funding right now.

Due to federal and state budget cuts, the district has already cut two of eight maintenance staff, two of four grounds staff and four of 26 custodial staff, as well as half of the budget for maintenance, grounds and custodial equipment. These have increased the amount of deferred maintenance, Schulte said.

A 2009 survey of the schools yielded a binder with hundreds of pages of needed improvements, Schulte said.

Improvements include replacing deteriorating asphalt in parking lots and driveways, lighting and fire alarm systems, exterior doors and windows, electrical panels and old wiring, boilers and some carpeting and lockers, Schulte said.

These improvements would cost more than $8 million, Schulte said.

Oak Harbor Elementary School needs full modernization, costing $25 million, and after that, Hillcrest Elementary School, costing $15 million. The bus yard and garage at the transportation facility on Midway Boulevard also need to be replaced, a cost of $10 million, Schulte said.

While these concerns aren’t immediate, they do need to be planned for.

“The very nature of school facilities, buildings and construction projects is that it takes long-term planning,” Schulte said. After finding funding, planning takes one to one and one-half years and then it takes another one to one and one-half years to build, Schulte said.

“If you delay everything in the zero- to six-year plan then you have to do it while you’re doing the six- to 12-year plan,” Schulte said, adding that the district is trying to spread out the maintenance so all the costs and disruptions of construction don’t happen at the same time.

“We have to be proactive. We have to anticipate when things are going to fail. If we wait until everything goes bad then it takes three to 10 years to fix it,” Schulte said.