Wrangell School District Ranked 16th in Major Maintenance Grant Funding

Wrangell Public Schools officials hope to receive state funding for capital improvement projects this year. Their funding request ranked 16th on the list of school maintenance priorities.

Funded by DEED, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

The district requested a total of $10 million. Overall, 95 projects from schools across Alaska made the list.

Wrangell School District Maintenance Director Josh Blatchley said he’s glad Wrangell is so high on the list, even though the funding must first be approved by the Legislature. .

“Last year, they approved $19.6 million or $20 million for school improvement projects,” he said. “To fund our project in 16th place, we would need about $42 million worth of budget before we would get the project funded. So we gave it a high rating, but the state I’m not very confident that we will be able to fund so many projects.”

The state prioritizes schools on the retention list by moving forward through the list chronologically until funding is exhausted.

Blatchley said the Wrangell School District has certain infrastructure priorities.

“Our goal is to put a roof on the elementary school, rebuild a new roof on the middle school, replace new siding on the high school, replace some of the flat roof, and then consider the heating supply and electrical distribution system for the school.” “High school, middle school,” he said.

About a year and a half ago, Wrangell voters approved a $3.5 million general obligation bond. This is Rangel’s 35% matching funding for the $10 million project.

Blatchley said the district chose projects that had the money and the wherewithal to do so.

He said if the Wrangell School District does not receive state funding, it will do what it can with local funding.

“If we don’t qualify for this state aid and the money isn’t appropriated through Congress, we’re going to have to do something with the general obligation bonds that voters passed a year and a half ago. ” he said. “So we’re going to use that money to pick and choose what projects we can accomplish with her $3.5 million.”

He said the most important projects will probably be the roof of the middle school and the exterior of the high school.