Update - State says school's bad air not emergency

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State says school's bad air not emergency

State agency denies Corona's request for repair funding

by Dianna M. Náñez - Apr. 9, 2008

The Arizona Republic,AZ*

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/09/20080409corona0409.

html

Corona del Sol High School parents and teachers are scratching their

heads and wondering why repairing a ventilation system linked to

poor air quality, mold and high carbon-dioxide levels does not meet

state standards of an emergency.

Last week, the Arizona School Facilities Board voted unanimously to

deny Tempe Union High School District emergency funding to repair

Corona's failing 30-year-old ventilation system. Now, the district

has to look at other options, most likely going to voters for a bond

to pay to fix the problem.

Arnold, the School Facilities Board executive director, has

acknowledged Corona air quality violates state limits. A 2006 study

found carbon-dioxide levels up to four times higher than such

limits.

" Minimum guidelines are there to establish academic guidelines for

what the air quality should be to allow students to perform, " Arnold

has said.

The definition for emergency funding states that issues

that " seriously threaten the functioning of the school district, the

preservation or protection of property or public health, welfare or

safety " may merit emergency funding.

" The Legislature knew what it was doing when it (defined

emergencies), " said Debra Sterling, an attorney representing the

School Facilities Board. " It does not state that not meeting a

guideline constitutes an emergency. "

But parent Ben Mccawley said he has researched the issue and wonders

how staff complaints of musty smells and health concerns dating to

the mid-1990s were still being dealt with years later.

Another parent, Doering, was shocked the state did not

consider threats to children's health an emergency worth funding.

" My daughter has asthma, " Doering said. " They told us the air

quality is not good for asthma. How can this not be an emergency? "

Bob , the district's facilities manager, said Tuesday that

the district's requests for funds to repair the ventilation system

date back at least seven years to when the School Facilities Board

was surveying state schools for deficiencies.

In 1998, then-Gov. Jane Dee Hull signed legislation, which created

the board, to revamp the funding system to provide additional state

money for districts to repair deficiencies like this.

said the district pointed out the problems it had with the

ventilation system but was told the system did not look as bad as

many systems the board had seen. The board, he said, assured the

district it would soon have building-renewal funds to repair

Corona's system.

" But they never fully funded building renewal, " said Diane

Meulemans, Tempe Union's chief financial officer. Meulemans said the

district has been shorted half its designated building-renewal funds

and would have nearly $13 million if the Legislature had fully

funded the program.

The district joined a lawsuit recently against the state in hopes of

receiving the funds. If the ruling is favorable, the ventilation

system would be repaired in 2013. Officials said it would take that

long for the lawsuit to play out.

Through the years, the district has hired specialists to remove mold

and worked to keep the ventilation system running. But it decided

repairs were an emergency after the environmental consultant Heath

Effects Group reported its concerns in the 2006 study.

At this point, the district has invested nearly all its building-

renewal money and dipped into capital funds to fast-track the

repairs. But it's still nearly $12 million short of completing the

job, which involves installing hundreds of new air-conditioning

units.

The district said it is now looking at a Class B bond to fund

repairs. The special bond, if approved by voters in November, would

supply funds specifically to repair the ventilation system. The

funds would be available after January.