A facilities modernization program at the Rochester City School District is awaiting a possible nine-figure increase in state funding.
The program to renovate city school buildings is in the early stages of its third phase, and the Rochester Joint Schools Construction Board which oversees the project is seeking an additional $125 million from the state to see it through.
Tom Richards, board chairman, said the additional money is needed because the cost of materials and construction has increased since the plan was drawn up — and time is of the essence.
“The original design of the program was done a number of years ago, and so had to be updated, and therefore cost more,” he said.
Asked what happens if Hochul does not sign off, Richards said the board would revert to a scaled-down plan but added: "There'll be consequences to that."
"When you start cutting back like this, what happens is the infrastructure begins to absorb all of the money, because it has to be done and can't be done in pieces," Richards said, referring to things like replacing boilers. "And some of the other things you would like to do, with respect to the classrooms and other things like that, become unaffordable."
The faster and more efficient the process goes, the less time it causes disruptions for students, teachers, and school staff at affected buildings, he said. The program has cost more than $750 million to date and spanned two decades. Another $70 million in contracts have been executed thus far related to the third phase of work.
Campuses to be modernized in this third phase include Frederick Douglass Middle School, Edison Tech, Monroe and Wilson High Schools, and Franklin which is home to Padilla High School.
The costs have gone up due to tariffs and inflation, Richards said. But the needs in this round of schools are much the same as those already completed.
“Many of these schools, we're replacing the infrastructure in them because some of them are 100 years old,” he said.
“It really wouldn't make any sense to do it some now, wait four years and do another part,” Richards said. “If we're going to tear this place up, let's tear it up and get it done. And that, I think, was part of the rationale that that the Legislature used when they recommended the increase”
The state legislation would push the timeline to complete phase three to 2033.
