Delco lawmakers announce facilities improvement grants for local schools
Rep. Leanne Krueger September 9, 2024 | 11:11 AM
HARRISBURG, Sept. 9 – Chester-Upland, Chichester and Interboro school districts and Delaware County Technical School today were awarded state grant funding to help address environmental hazards in their school buildings, according to state Reps. Carol Kazeem, Leanne Krueger and Dave Delloso, all D-Delaware.
Chester Upland School District received $821,912 while Chichester was awarded $1.04 million. Interboro was awarded $290,761. DCTC also received $80,095 for environmental remediation needs in its Aston and Folcroft buildings.
The money comes from the state’s Public School Environmental Repairs Program, made possible by funding Krueger, Kazeem and Delloso voted for in the 2023-24 state budget. Grants under the program can be used by schools to fix environmental hazards in their school buildings, including removing lead in water sources and in paint, as well as asbestos and mold removal and remediation.
“No student or staff member should have to learn or work in a building full of lead, asbestos and mold, yet this is what many young people and adults across the state -- some right here in Delaware County -- faced with each new school year and for far too long because local tax sources were stretched too thin,” Krueger said. “I fought to include funding to fix and clean up our schools in last year’s state budget and again this year. I am grateful to see schools like Chester-Upland finally get the resources they need from the state to give students and staff clean water and clean buildings. I continue to work hard to bring state dollars back to our communities.”
Kazeem said Chichester and Chester-Upland administrators have been working to address environmental problems in their schools but needed money outside of what they could afford in their already tight budgets to do the work. This is where the state should and finally did come in, she said.
“I applaud school officials for their efforts to keep students and staff safe when the school bell rings each day,” Kazeem said. “The health and safety of everyone who spends several hours a day in our school buildings is of the utmost importance. Getting these needed state dollars to our schools is among my top priorities as a representative of these communities. I am always working to find ways the state can better support our schools, our students and local taxpayers.”
Delloso noted the effort made in understanding school district needs to for facility improvements.
“Over the past several years I joined Policy Committee tours of schools in desperate need of repair, and we saw firsthand the absolute need the targeted type of investment we created in the environmental repairs program and made fixing funding shortfalls a priority,” Delloso said. “I am happy to see the funding we fought for in the state budget going to schools in need right here in Delaware County.”
A total of $75 million was available for the competitive grant program established in 2023, and 109 school districts and technical centers across the state received grants in this round. Projects require a cash match of 50% of total eligible project costs. More information is available on the Department of Education’s website.