In addition to demolishing withered facilities, schools are finding themselves taking a sledgehammer to something else in light of the pandemic: building improvement plans themselves.
“They’ve had to revisit the size of their portfolio and facilities” for school construction projects, said Tracy Richter, a former educator and current vice president of planning services for HPM, a management firm that oversees district construction projects.
Supply chain issues, labor shortages, changing enrollment patterns and funding sources are throwing a wrench in districts’ efforts to revamp buildings, said Richter and school district business experts.
These challenges are impacting projects old and new. Districts that undertook building new facilities pre-pandemic are reconsidering their paths forward in the later years of these projects. And those that started during or after the pandemic — usually on improvements related to indoor air quality and student health — are trimming larger projects into bite-sized pieces.
Supply chain issues, labor shortages and competition
“Some of the reasons why many districts are having to reconsider, alter or scale back facilities projects are because of persistent labor challenges, supply chain issues and high inflation,” said Elleka Yost, director of advocacy for the Association of School Business Officials International. Yost added those factors “have significantly increased the total project cost than what was initially budgeted for or agreed upon with contractors.”
Not only are districts competing with one another to complete similar pandemic construction projects nationwide — driving up costs of contracting services — but contractors are also having to increase wages for their employees.
“If contractors have to increase wages to hire sufficient professionals to do the work, those increased costs get transferred to districts, too,” said Yost.
Supply chain issues, which have affected everything from school meals to computer deliveries, also continue to delay school facility projects.
Anthony Dragona, interim board secretary and school business administrator for the Union City Board of Education in New Jersey, ordered two rooftop air conditioning units in May 2022. The district just completed installation on one that arrived this February, or 40 weeks after purchase, said Dragona. It is still waiting on the second that is expected to be delivered this week, or 63 weeks after purchase.
“So when you have a 12-month lead time or 16-month lead time from the time that you order things, then you start looking at your funding and when these funds expire,” said Dragona.
Funding sources and upfront costs
Districts like Dragona’s that are relying at least partly on funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund for their facility upgrades are reconsidering their projects due to supply chain delays running into federal obligation deadlines. Those looming deadlines are September 2023 for ESSER II and September 2024 for ESSER III.
“Projects may end up being revised to being completed in smaller phases, according to a district’s ability to fin