Bond Measure Passage Continues to Generate Grants, Rebates
Federal Way Public Schools continue to see unexpected benefits from the passage of its construction bond measure in 2007. Because the FWPS community agreed to fund the rebuilding of five schools and several other district facilities, the district has been able to leverage that local commitment for additional state and corporate dollars. The latest is a $500,000 grant from the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The money is part of a grant program funded by the state legislature for school districts to improve energy efficiency. Fifty-nine school districts received a total of nearly $16.7 million to improve heating, ventilation and air conditioning, repair and upgrade controls and replace inefficient lighting. Students, teachers and staff will benefit from better ventilation, more reliable heat, improved temperature controls and better lighting.
The money will fund projects at 16 Federal Way schools. Ed Novak, the district's resource conservation manager, said that the projects will result in cost savings of around $100,000 each year. An added bonus: Puget Sound Energy (PSE) will give the district a $214,000 energy-efficiency rebate as a result of the work to be completed with the half-million dollar grant.
The district applied for the state grant in September. To qualify, school facilities were audited to identify areas where energy could be saved. The district also was required to show local financial resources for the projects. Federal Way has spent $700,000 in school construction assistance funds (formerly known as state match funding) on energy improvement upgrades. This funding was received as a result of rebuilding several of our schools with the 2007 construction bond measure.
Schools benefiting from the state grant include Illahee, which will get more efficient gas boilers and better heating, ventilation and air-conditioning controls. Nautilus and Camelot will get upgraded fluorescent lights throughout the school. New lighting will be installed in large areas such as gyms and cafeterias at 12 schools including Decatur, Federal Way, Todd Beamer, Saghalie, Illahee, Kilo, Sacajawea, Totem and four elementary schools. The same fluorescent lights were installed in Thomas Jefferson High School’s gym last year. Since then, coaches and players have commented on the much-improved quality of the light in the gym.
Work will begin in February. All projects will be complete before fall 2010.
Posted: January 12, 2010