Grant request for city schools’ roofs denied

The Clinton City Board of Education will have to go back to the financial drawing board after learning earlier this week that a state Needs Based Public School Capital Fund grant to repair or replace school roofs was denied.

John Lowe, executive director of technology and auxiliary services for the city system, gave the board the news during his informational items presentation. While updating the board on its current grant submissions for projects, Lowe told members word from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction was not favorable.

“We did receive our denial letter from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction,” Lowe said. “It was addressed to Dr. (Wesley) Johnson from our state superintendent of public instruction. There were a lot of applicants for new school construction, which always gets priority, and so we did not get our request for that.”

As it stands, the city school system is facing over $11 million in roofing repairs. That cost stretches across every school facility except Clinton High, with some, school officials said, being in dire need.

The window to apply for Needs Based Public School Capital Funds was opened Aug. 1, and the deadline for submission was Sept. 1. Clinton City Schools completed multiple applications in that time frame with $6 million for roofing and approximately $2.5 million for HVAC, requesting a grand total of over $8.5 million, none of which was granted.

“Dear Dr. Johnson,” the denial letter stated. “Thank you for your interest in the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. In the 2024-25 grant cycle, 47 districts submitted 122 applications for projects totaling more than $1.77 billion in requests, illustrating the tremendous need for this critical program. However, the amount of funding available for grant awards was less than $370 million, or approximately 21 percent of total grant requests.”

The letter went on to urge city officials to apply again next year when additional funding, the letter noted, would be available for awards during the FY25-26 grant cycle.

While receiving no aid from the NBPSCF means the city schools have to go back to the drawing board to address its roof issues, Lowe said step have already been taken.

“We did have a meeting, our chair and vice chair of the Clinton City Board of Education, met with our finance officer, myself, and Dr. Johnson, along with the chair and vice chair of the Sampson County commissioners, the county manager and their finance person,” Lowe said.

“That was Oct. 8. We presented our case with our challenging issues. Not only did we present roofing issues, I outlined a lot of other capital needs in our district. We were advised by that group to contact our legislators regarding our needs.”

Part of the discussion centered around the hope, Lowe said, of securing some funding from commissioners, but that was unsuccessful.

“The commissioners said they just don’t have the funds to support us at this time, and that’s kind of how we left that meeting,” Lowe stressed. “Since then, Dr. Johnson has followed up with a letter recapping what was discussed that day. I think some board members have started reaching out to our legislators as well. We’ll see where that goes, because we just have ongoing needs to maintain our facilities properly.”