Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Director Heather Heineken briefed the House Education Committee on May 2 about the Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review (BRGR) Committee’s April meeting, the department’s capital‑improvement project (CIP) priorities and the rollout of new capital‑planning dashboards intended to help districts with long‑range facility planning.

Heineken told the committee the BRGR packet for the April meeting totaled 309 pages and that the committee reviewed 18 school construction requests totaling about $349 million and 83 major‑maintenance projects totaling about $272 million. She said the REA and small municipal fund balance is about $22.8 million, which could cover the top one or two projects on the BRGR construction list but would not fully fund larger projects further down the list.

“We are unveiling what we’re calling our school district capital planning dashboards,” Heineken said. She described six interactive dashboards that compile district-level ADM projections, space‑needs calculations and cost‑model updates to help districts, legislators and stakeholders make data‑informed decisions about facilities investments.

The BRGR committee voted to form a subcommittee to examine whether a supplemental planning‑application process could help smaller districts prepare stronger CIP applications without diverting funds from approved projects. Heineken said the department had issued a draft supplemental application shortly before the April meeting and received extensive feedback; the subcommittee will report initial recommendations at the committee’s December meeting.

Committee members raised two related concerns: (1) smaller and rural districts often lack the professional planning resources (architects, engineers, detailed surveys) required for a competitive application; and (2) the current point‑based ranking rewards completed projects and reimbursable work, which can create an incentive to wait until a failure occurs. Representative Schwanke described an example in which a rural school rushed a $400,000 boiler replacement in winter after a failure; that project then pushed ahead in ranking when the district sought reimbursement.

DEED described steps it is taking to support districts: monthly training and workshops on the CIP application process, targeted site visits by DEED facilities staff, and a proposed forecasting tool to model 10‑year capital needs. Heineken also said the department’s construction cost model (fourth edition) incorporates market trends and will feed the dashboards.

On bond reimbursement, Heineken explained the moratorium on new voter bond reimbursements (in effect since 2015) reduced the flow of funds that historically recirculated to the REA and small municipal fund. She said the department expects the moratorium to lift in July 2025 and described how bond reimbursement and the REA fund interact: bond reimbursement money paid to municipal districts historically generated a calculated stream that helps capitalize the REA/small municipal fund used for REA projects.

Action: the BRGR voted to form at least three subcommittees (a supplemental‑planning application subcommittee, a preventative‑maintenance administration subcommittee, and a school space‑calculation review subcommittee) to examine ways to reduce barriers for smaller and rural districts and to advise updates to the CIP application and scoring process. The committee also approved rollout of the capital‑planning dashboards and the cost‑model updates; these are implementation and information projects rather than appropriations.

Discussion versus decision: the presentation was informational and the committee’s formation of subcommittees is a committee-level decision to study options and develop recommendations; no appropriation or change to the CIP scoring criteria was enacted at the House Education Committee hearing.

Heineken closed by encouraging districts to use the dashboards and to submit updated facility information so the tools can be refined, and she said the department will continue workshops and outreach through the summer and fall.