A joint legislative committee approved a school building project priority list during a brief meeting, advancing eight school building grant applications and sending the list on for further action.

The committee approved the list after testimony from the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services. Michelle Gilman, Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, told the committee the agency had submitted a priority list in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes §10-283a(2). “My name is Michelle Gilman. I'm the Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services,” she said.

The priority list the department submitted includes eight school building grant applications: five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. The agency described the projects as including four alterations, two new schools, one renovation and one extension/alteration with a roof replacement. The written testimony the department submitted to the committee included an estimated total project cost given in the testimony as $262,000,706,727 and a state's maximum grant amount of $152,430,810. The department also reported one request for reauthorization with an estimated project cost and potential grant change listed as $50,655,500.

Gilman said the list includes an analysis of previous priority lists and an addendum of non-priority list projects — such as roof replacements and other routine capital work — that the department administratively approves, which the agency said increases transparency around school building grant awards. She told the committee staff were available to answer questions about the applications or the priority list.

Senator McCrory, who spoke at the start of the meeting, urged the committee to move quickly. “Make sure to get this work done real quickly,” McCrory said, adding that committee members understand the importance of school construction.

A motion to approve the priority list was made and seconded; members voted by voice. A committee member answered “Aye,” and the chair declared, “The ayes have it. The 2024 school building project priority list is approved.” The committee record shows the list was approved by voice vote; the transcript records the verbal approval but does not record individual roll-call votes.

The department and the statute the commissioner cited indicate that any grants on the priority list require later approval by the legislature and the governor for the state's grant amounts to become effective.

The meeting was short and took up a single agenda item related to the priority list. Committee members did not record additional substantive debate in the transcript.

Clarifying note: the department's testimony as quoted to the committee included a very large aggregate project cost figure ($262,000,706,727). That figure is reported here exactly as stated in the department's testimony to the committee; the committee transcript does not provide additional documentation in the record to confirm or reconcile that number.

The committee adjourned after approving the priority list.