Parents greet students on the first day of school at Margaret Keating Elementary. Photo: Jessica Cejnar

Six local schools are eligible for state modernization dollars, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of facilities and construction told trustees Thursday.

At the board’s annual meeting at Margaret Keating Elementary School in Klamath, Steve Morgan told trustees that the funding mechanism, Proposition 51, is exhausted. Meanwhile, two of Del Norte’s newest schools are among the six campuses that are eligible to receive that money, Morgan said. Those six campuses do not include Margaret Keating, he said.

This didn’t sit well with some who attended Thursday’s meeting.

“These are new schools compared to the rest of our district and you have to get in line for this money,” said Machelle Bates, an instructional assistant at Margaret Keating. “How does Margaret Keating get in that line?”

According to Morgan, in addition to Mary Peacock and Mountain schools, the six other campuses eligible for modernization dollars include Bess Maxwell, Redwood and Smith River. He noted that though Smith River and Redwood schools are two of the oldest facilities in the district, they’re eligible for the least amount in modernization funding.

Mary Peacock, though it’s among the newest DNUSD campuses, is eligible for the most amount in state modernization funds, $2.5 million, Morgan said. Among proposed projects for Mary Peacock are repairs to the roof and a paint job, he said. That project and projects at Bess Maxwell and Pine Grove are expected to go before the Division of the State Architect for approval next month, Morgan said.

Approved by California voters in 2016, Proposition 51 allocated $9 billion in bonds for construction and improvement at K12 schools and community colleges. At previous meetings, Morgan told trustees that $7 billion was allocated to K12 public schools.

Meanwhile, another $15 billion bond is expected to go before voters next March, Morgan said. Nine billion dollars of that meant for K12 modernization projects, he said. But even if it passes, it could be three to five years before Del Norte’s projects get funded.

Del Norte also has to contribute about 40 percent toward the cost of its modernization projects to receive state dollars, Morgan said.

“Currently we don’t have our 40 percent even if we get state funding,” he told trustees. “And the $4.9 million (bond) you recently approved, that will be long exhausted before the projects come up.”

According to Jeff Napier, the district’s assistant superintendent of business, state modernization dollars are allocated to schools on a 25-year schedule. Margaret Keating Elementary School hasn’t shown up on that schedule yet since there were a lot of modernization projects conducted between 1998 and 2002.

“It’s not a complete school makeover,” he said. “They don’t give you that much funding. Modernizations, half of them at Smith River, Redwood School and Pine Grove, the three oldest schools, you’ll walk on campus and you won’t even see where the million dollars were spent.”

State facility hardship dollars contributed 60 percent of the cost of a $1.8 million fire alarm project at Crescent Elk Middle School, Smith River and Joe Hamilton schools, according to Morgan.

Since the school board sold the remaining $4.9 million of a $25 million general obligation bond, work to install a 300 kilowatt generator at Margaret Keating has begun. This generator will power both Margaret Keating School and the nearby Yurok Head Start building. According to Morgan, the Yurok Tribe contributed about $120,000 toward the cost of installing the generator. The total project cost estimate is $420,000, he said.

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