Newport City Councilor Appointed to Statewide School Construction Board

With a Governor appointment announced today, Newport will officially have local representation on the new state School Building Authority Advisory Board that will spearhead the task of fixing the state’s crumbling schools and determine if and where new schools should be built.

Naomi Neville, a Newport City Councilor, has been chosen by Governor Gina Raimondo to serve on the board that was formed earlier this year as a component of the governor’s comprehensive jobs plan.

The board is responsible for creating the first statewide school construction assessment and developing a funding mechanism for schools with immediate renovation needs.

The board’s creation coincides with a lifting of a lingering statewide school construction moratorium, which enables districts to move ahead on repairs and renovations held in abeyance for the past four years.

“I am honored that the Governor has reached out to me for this important work” Neville said in a statement. “As a mother of school age children I am very aware of the importance to education that a solid well-functioning building serves. As a member of the City Council I am committed to economic stimulation for our city and State. The School Building Authority helps support and grow these two very important initiatives.”

Newport built the new Claiborne Pell Elementary School after securing funding before the moratorium. As part of her jobs program push in March, Raimondo toured the school to make the case for the proposed authority. At the time, she said along with providing children with modern school facilities, school construction means jobs.

“We’re making it a priority to invest in school construction,” the governor said.

The governor’s budget included $20 million to fund school construction initiatives. The authority is using some of the money to conduct the assessment of all public school buildings and to create a “prioritization plan” for school construction. It’s first ever assessment of its kind in Rhode Island.

Chairwoman of the Rhode Island Board of Education Barbara S. Cottam said that Rhode Island has shown it can be a leader in school design and construction with several buildings winning awards, such as the Pell school. But “we have been unable to keep up with the need for repairs and renovations in many of our older school buildings,” she said.

For immediate, short-term needs, the plan is to expedite repairs for projects that can demonstrate “immediate need” with access to money from a capital fund, which has $5 million designated for low-cost projects that are ready to go but just need funding.

The measure of a low-cost project is considered to be under $300,000.

Along with the $20 million in the capital fund, districts can also apply to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education for approval for housing aid funds for construction. In doing so, communities issue bonds for projects and get reimbursed for the local share of the cost after the project is completed.

Newport’s Mayor said Newport was lucky to get the Pell school funded before the moratirum, but “other cities and towns were not so lucky.” ”Now they can move forward to get their schools back to where they need to be and Naomi with her experience can help make this happens.”