Get out the mold, scrub the budget

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Thursday, June 16, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

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Editorial

Get out the mold, scrub the budget

The Seattle School Board's focus on the city schools' billion-dollar

capital-projects budget is long overdue.

Led by School Board President Brita -Wall and board member

Dick Lilly, the board's reassessment of the 15-year construction and

maintenance plan reflects a smart strategy of trimming costs and re-

evaluating priorities.

The undertaking cannot be overstated. The capital budget has taken

tough hits, from a water-quality program that has more than doubled

in expense, to construction cost overruns caused by rising concrete

and steel prices.

Recent discovery of mold at two schools led to a flurry of outside

consultants and districtwide tests, providing another whack to the

capital budget.

Board member Sally Soriano is the exception to the board's prudence.

Soriano unnecessarily frightened parents when she urged them to bill

the district for medical care if they suspect environmental

contaminants in schools. Soriano's colleagues or the district's

legal counsel ought to remind her that a process exists for injury

claims.

Such bizarre antics aside, the board appears poised to do something

with the capital budget unseen on the operating side: reshift

priorities to fit new economic realities.

Four seven-year levies approved over the past decade by voters have

allowed Seattle Public Schools to rely on a $1.2 billion, long-range

plan for building new schools and keeping up old ones. This

reliability is a far cry from the days when district leaders

routinely deferred maintenance projects and prayed they didn't

snowball into costly problems.

This doesn't mean the capital budget is watertight. The board is

having to shift priorities to absorb unexpected costs that include

repairing and replacing water pipes in schools and renovations at

the Center School. Even the rebounding economy's enticingly low

interest rates have challenged the district's capital budget because

it depends in part on revenue from interest earned.

Realigning maintenance and renovation projects involves a delicate

dance. Some things may be able to wait; others, for example a leaky

roof that could turn into mold, must be tackled quickly.

District leaders have been understandably absorbed in the deficits

incurred on the district's operating side, where control of

classroom dollars and salaries gets most of the visibility.

Broadening budgetary purview to include capital spending is good,

preventative maintenance.