Sen. Vitelli introduces bill to provide expedited financial support to schools needing emergency construction or repairs

AUGUSTA — On Tuesday, Sen. Eloise Vitell, D-Arrowsic, introduced a bill that would expedite state funding for schools in need of construction projects or repairs in the wake of a major emergency. Sen. Vitelli sponsored the bill in light of the fires that destroyed the Dike Newell Elementary School in Bath. 

LD 2170, “An Act to Prioritize School Construction Projects for Schools Affected by Disasters,” was the subject of a public hearing before the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. 

“Maine’s existing system for helping schools fund construction projects is competitive and cumbersome. What’s more, under current law, the urgency of these requests, and a school’s position on the funding waitlist, is not impacted by any urgent needs or emergencies. That means that, while the Dike Newell Elementary School was already on the Capital School Construction Fund waitlist, the major damage caused by an act of arson did not move the school any further up the list,” said Sen. Vitelli. “When schools sustain dire, unforeseeable damage, there needs to be a way for the state to acknowledge this and help disperse the funding needed to rebuild or make repairs. We all agree that students deserve a safe place to learn. This bill will help ensure that.”

LD 2170 would require the Board of Education to approve an emergency school construction project before a school construction project that is not an emergency school construction project. The bill defines “emergency school construction project” as a school construction project requiring the replacement of all or a significant portion of a school facility that is declared uninhabitable by an authorized individual or an authorized local, state or federal agency as a result of an unanticipated and sudden natural or human-made disaster.

On June 11, 2022, a fire damaged Dike Newell Elementary School. After a second fire ignited two days later, over 50 percent of the school building was deemed a total loss. The old Bath Technical School and Morse High School has been used as a temporary space, although it is inadequate for the grade levels being hosted there. Sen. Vitelli toured the school in March of last year. The former school had been shuttered because it no longer met the needs of high school students. The building was idle and unused for two years, requiring some upgrades to the elevator and new video surveillance technology. Even with upgrades, the school still does not meet the needs of elementary school students. 

LD 2170 faces further consideration in committee.