Connecticut soon will limit the costs of school construction.
Based on a law passed during last year’s legislative session, a yet-to-be-formed School Building Project Advisory Council will impose a cap on the per square foot cost of all education construction projects, limiting funding for the segment serving as a lifeline for the struggling building industry.
The state currently caps the size of schools based on the number of students, but there is no limit on the project cost. By law, the state has to reimburse each local school district a set percentage of the construction expense, regardless of the total. The reimbursement percentage varies by district — ranging from 20 to 100 percent — and is based upon community wealth.
Magnet schools get 100 percent reimbursement, leaving little incentive for local school districts and designers to skimp on plans.
Meriden engineering and design firm BL Companies designed the $42-million, 100,000-square-foot Mary M. Hooker Environmental Studies Magnet School in Hartford, which was built to some of the highest energy efficiency standards because of its magnet mission. Some of its amenities include a butterfly vivarium and a planetarium.
“It is a unique approach based upon the program of the school and the uniqueness of the site,” said Scott Pellman, senior project manager for BL Companies. “We are not putting in bells and whistles for the sake of putting in bells and whistles.”
When designing a building, BL looks at its life cycle and often chooses heartier, more expensive options that will negate the need for maintenance and renovations in the future, Pellman said. There are cost-savings options — such as combining an auditorium and a music room in the same space — but the need for those depends upon how much the state will limit costs.
“If the state put a cap on it, that would be something we would have to work within,” Pellman said. “There’s a lot of different ways to get creative to create efficiencies.”
The School Building Project Advisory Council specifically is charged with determining the maximum per-square-foot cost for each of Connecticut’s counties. If a local school district submits a project plan for state approval exceeding the maximum amount, the project is rejected, according to the statute passed last year.
The council hasn’t met yet because Gov. Dannel Malloy has yet to finish his appointments to the five-member board. The council will be comprised of representatives from the Department of Construction Services and the Office of Policy & Management and three Malloy designees.
Malloy appointed Antonio Iadarola, current Danbury public works director and former Stamford city engineer; and Louis Casolo, the Stamford city engineer. Malloy is working on the third appointment and has no deadline to make the decision, governor spokeswoman Juliet Manalan said.
The difference between the cost of the school a district wants and the state’s cap could create friction between the state and local districts.
Rocky Hill, which is proposing $110 million in elementary and high school construction. New England Association of Schools & Colleges Inc. warned the district the high school is in risk of probation, a first step in limiting graduates’ collegiate opportunities.
The Rocky Hill Public School hasn’t submitted its plan to Town Council, but initial high school plans call for science laboratories, handicap accessibility, storage facilities and overhauling heating and cooling, said Raffaella A. Calciano-Coler, school board chairwoman.
“It is in dire need of restoration to meet the 21st century curriculum,” Calciano-Coler said. “When funding is limited, there is always a repercussion on what you can purchase.”
One solution to the cap on school construction is not to reject the project for excess cost. Have the state provide reimbursement funding up to a set amount and let the local district pay 100 percent of any overage.
“If you’ve got someone with a blind eye saying it should be $200 per square foot or whatever, that’s not going to work,” said Ron Jodice, president of Bloomfield-based PDS Engineering & Construction, Inc. “That would be a one-size-fits-all that can’t work.”
PDS worked on the Hooker magnet school in Hartford and has another $50 million project to turn the Quirk Middle School in Hartford into a college preparatory magnet school.
The magnet schools such as Hooker include the extra amenities to make a statement toward its goals and enhance the learning environment for the students, Jodice said.
“There are certainly a lot nicer than the school I went to,” Jodice said.
PDS will work on only one or two school construction projects out of the 30-40 projects it manages at any given moment, Jodice said, but the project budget for one school usually equals all the other non-school projects.
Despite the high project costs, PDS tends to profit little from the school construction, Jodice said. Public projects include extra requirements driving up expenses, and firms have to bid low to be awarded a job.
“A private job will go a lot smoother than one of these will,” Jodice said. “A lot of companies ignored them to this point because they are a pain in the butt, and you can’t make much money on them.”
The recession changed interest in schools. The state construction industry economic output shrunk 20 percent in five years, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis, and more companies compete for less work.
While private and non-school public projects have dwindled in the economic downturn, school construction has remained large for the industry. The Connecticut Bureau of School Facilities has 20 projects totaling $546 million on its 2012 priority list.
This results in more companies bidding for school construction; thickening the race to be the low bidder increases, dampening prices. A state cap on expenses could change the number of bidders and overall cost.
“School construction is nice as a fill-in when you don’t have a lot else going on,” said John Butts, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Connecticut. “But I don’t know if there’s a lot of money to be made.”
