The state Department of Education is requesting a nearly $2 billion Capital Improvement Budget for the next two years to cover maintenance, advance new and existing projects, meet health and safety requirements, and support the launch of a regional kitchen.
The proposed budget was brought to the state's Board of Education this week, which questioned the listed projects that have been in the queue for some time.
“This request continues the approach we presented last year, which focuses on essential facility needs, protecting the state's existing investments, and prioritizing work within available resources,” said DOE Deputy Superintendent of Operations Jesse Souki. “First, maintaining safe, reliable, and accessible schools. Second, providing the facilities students and schools need … Third, positioning projects to proceed, and protecting investments already made.”
Several board members noted that some projects listed in the budget proposal have been in the queue for upwards of five years. They questioned whether or not these would be prioritized before jumping to new projects.
Jadine Urasaki, the DOE's facilities director, said the budget reflects projects that are at all stages of progress, including those that have started but can't move forward without new funding.
“A lot of these projects will look familiar to the board from 2025-2027 fiscal biennium — some have designs that have been funded, and we need to move forward and do the construction,” Urasaki said. “Those priorities haven't changed… We do have the capacity to continue to maintain it, (but) the challenge for us is this continuous stagnation of not being able to move it forward.”
The CIP is separate from the DOE's operating budget proposal for the next fiscal biennium, which requests roughly $69 million in additional general funds for fiscal year 2027 to 2028, and $80 million for fiscal year 2028-29. It also requests 20 full-time positions in the first year and 52 in the second.
The Capital Improvement Budget was approved by the state BOE's Finance and Infrastructure Committee. It must be approved by the full board before being sent to the state Department of Budget and Finance to be considered as part of the Governor's biennium budget in the next legislative session.
