Ryan Announces $400 Million IN Grants To Aid School Construction Projects In 85 Districts

SPRINGFIELD -- Governor George H. Ryan today announced nearly $400 million in state grants to school districts for new facilities to reduce student overcrowding and replace aged and crumbling buildings.

"Our children cannot be expected to learn to their full potential if they are crowded into cramped classrooms or if those classrooms are falling apart," Ryan said. "Our partnership with the local school districts is helping to provide better schools and modern learning environments for thousands of students throughout Illinois."

The grants announced by Ryan will assist 84 school districts which had applied for the grants during Fiscal Year 1999 and which have the necessary local funds on hand. One emergency project in Clay County also is funded. The state grants total $399.5 million and are matched with local funding.

Without Ryan's Illinois FIRST infrastructure improvement program, funding for a number of the districts would have been delayed until Fiscal Year 2001. The Illinois FIRST program boosted the school construction grant program by $1 billion, including an additional $153 million in the fiscal year that began July 1.

"Illinois FIRST is an investment in the future of Illinois and in the future of our children," Ryan said. "With our school construction program, we are responding to local needs and local initiative."

The funding, which totals $540 million, also will be sufficient to begin awarding grants this fall to school districts that applied for grants in Fiscal 2000, once the State Board of Education has prioritized those eligible districts based on their numbers of inadequately housed students and the Capital Development Board has completed technical surveys of their proposed construction projects.

Under the program, school districts must receive an entitlement from the State Board of Education and secure their local share of construction funds before receiving any state grant funds. The grants range from 35 to 75 percent of eligible construction costs, determined by an index which is adjusted annually to reflect changes in the district's overall wealth. Enhancements such as swimming pools and auditoriums are not considered eligible project costs and are excluded from any grant calculations.

Currently, only those projects that address emergency needs, crowded classrooms and old buildings are being funded.

The Chicago public schools, which by law receive 20 percent of the program funding, will receive $79.9 million.

The school construction program, authorized by the General Assembly in 1997, is the first state building program to assist local school construction in more than two decades. Including the grants announced today, the program has benefitted 162 school districts in every region of the state and provided more than $752 million in state funds for building and renovating local public schools.