School districts across Idaho will soon receive hundreds of millions of dollars to help repair and replace their aging buildings, thanks to a bill that cleared its final hurdle in the Idaho Senate on Thursday.
House Bill 521 will invest $1.5 billion in new funding and redirect $500 million over 10 years for school facilities across the state. But critics say it still won鈥檛 be enough to address the years of neglect left from the state鈥檚 failure to fund school facilities.
Idaho school districts have for decades struggled to fix or replace their aging, deteriorating schools and build new ones to accommodate the state鈥檚 rapid growth. Over the past year, the Idaho Statesman and ProPublica have reported on how Idaho鈥檚 restrictive policies and the state鈥檚 reluctance to make significant investments in school facilities have led to students learning in schools with failing heating systems, leaking roofs, discolored drinking water and overcrowded classrooms.
.
