If there's one thing officials in the Buffalo Public Schools have been consistently proud of over the past several years, it's the reconstruction of nearly every school in the district.
Former Superintendent James Williams often said that other cities looked to Buffalo to find out how to pull off similar projects. When he retired in September, in fact, he joked that he "might go into construction" -- to teach other districts how to renovate their buildings like Buffalo did.
Well, apparently the $1.4 billion that taxpayers spent to update the city's schools only takes us so far. The district hasn't even completed construction on all the schools, and already district officials estimate the cost of repairs and maintenance at $200 million.
A report released by the Council of the Great City Schools says that Buffalo schools are in need of $150 million in "renovation, repair and modernization" -- plus another $50 million in deferred maintenance.
(The report surveyed 50 major school systems in the country, giving each one the opportunity to self-report its needs.)
- Mary Pasciak
facebook.com/mary.pasciak twitter.com/SchoolZoneBlog mpasciak@buffnews.com
