Libby school officials detail coronavirus spending
Administrators with Libby Public Schools last week clarified their spending plans for the more than $4.25 million in federal coronavirus aid the district has received.
While the district’s budget remained relatively unchanged — improving air quality in school buildings and buttressing the district’s kitchen services are still top priorities — Superintendent Ron Goodman provided more context for each allotment during a June 14 school board meeting.
Administrators must use the aid, which comes from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, to address the current coronavirus pandemic or potential future pandemics. Within these parameters the district can nonetheless tackle lingering infrastructure issues, like revamping ventilation systems and roofs.
School officials plan to allocate nearly $2.2 million to upgrade the Libby Middle High School’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. While this allotment represents a significant chuck of the ESSER funds, Goodman said the changes likely will save the school money in the long run.
To heat the middle high school using the building’s current diesel boiler, administrators budget $80,000 a year. The expense dropped to $65,000 this academic year due to a mild winter and a dip in diesel prices to $1.20 a gallon. But Goodman said this trend isn’t likely to hold.
“If winter next year is extraordinarily light again, fuel is going to be at least $2.20,” he told school board members. “You do the math on that, it’s going to be $120,000 to $130,000 just for the diesel fuel.”
Were administrators to supplement the diesel burner with electrical heat pumps, it would likely cost the district only $40,000 a year to heat the middle high school. Under this system, Goodman said officials would only have to activate the diesel boiler when temperatures dipped to 20 degrees below zero. At this temperature, the efficiency of the heat pumps begins to significantly fall off.
School officials may also have to run the diesel system occasionally to ensure it functions properly.
In addition to saving the school money on their heating bill, the new HVAC systems will provide the middle high school with cleaner air by filtering out mold and pathogens.
With schools across the country looking to put in new HVAC systems, Goodman said Libby had to move quickly to secure the equipment.
“You’re literally in a position of watching the HVAC go up upwards of like 10 percent so we're trying to get ahead of things as fast as we can,” he said.
As of the school board meeting last week, the district had already put their project out to bid. Goodman said this made Libby the first in the state to get out their design build contract.
To bolster the district’s cafeteria services, administrators are looking to build a new kitchen, potentially in the central school building. The plan was spurred in part because school officials could soon lose access to their kitchen in the former Asa Wood Elementary School building.
In May, administrators partnered with United Country Real Estate to market the Asa Wood on a national scale. The district will begin cleaning up the property in October using a grant from the EPA.
Rather than waiting for a buyer to materialize and using monies from the sale to finance a new kitchen, Goodman said it would be better to complete the project sooner using ESSER funds. School officials have budgeted $500,000 for kitchen remodeling or construction.
The district’s spending plan includes $762,000 to cover the salaries of various staff needed to address learning loss during the pandemic. Repairs to the Libby Elementary School roof and the elementary’s gym roof are expected to cost $261,475 and $95,754 respectively, according to an outline of the budget presented at a June 7 board meeting.
Administrators must submit their funding plans to the state by August 24.