In August 1997, the Wyoming Department of Education commissioned an assessment of all buildings owned and operated by school districts throughout the state. The study, in response to Enrolled Act 2 of the 1997 Special Legislative Session, covered 1,221 buildings totaling 22.9 million gross square feet (GSF) including:

• All permanent buildings used for educational purposes (498 buildings with 20,127,530 GSF).
• All other support buildings (including portables) owned by the school districts (723 buildings with 2,752,297 GSF). This includes 178 teacherages with 261,038 GSF.

As a part of the assessment, building condition, educational suitability, and technology readiness were evaluated. The need for additional space to accommodate student enrollment was also calculated. The study findings and recommendations are summarized below.

Exhibit 2 presents the average age of buildings for each school district.

The average condition score of all Wyoming school system buildings, including support facilities, was 73.25. The average condition score for permanent buildings used for instructional purposes was 71.83. This places the average in the "Good" category indicating that the average building is in need of some repair work. Exhibit 3 presents the percentage of buildings by score category.

Overall, it is encouraging that 93 percent of the buildings are fully functional, although a substantial number have conditions which need attention. Exhibit 4 presents the average condition score for each of the school districts.

The BASYS condition evaluation system rates 22 building systems in three major categories: structural, mechanical, and safety/building code. The condition of structurally related systems of the buildings evaluated was substantially better than either that of the mechanical systems or the safety/building code systems. The average scores for all buildings were:

This indicates that the most visible systems, e.g. walls, foundations, windows, etc. are in the best relative condition while the less visible systems, e.g. heating, cooling, fire alarms, etc. need the most attention.

Exhibit 5 provides a perspective which links the age of district buildings to the rated condition. The rows reflect the number of buildings by age category while the columns indicate the number of buildings by score category.

The average educational suitability score for schools statewide was 71.66. This indicates that the average building is generally suitable for the educational program but has some problems meeting all of the program needs.

The rating instrument assessed the existence of the required infrastructure to support informational technology and the associated equipment, typically computers. The following overall categories have been developed to provide the reader with an understanding of the numerical scores.

The average technology readiness score of educational buildings statewide is 31.65. This indicates that most buildings do not have the infrastructure necessary to support today’s educational technology requirements. As with the suitability score, this low technology readiness score clearly reflects the 30 year average age of buildings in the state and indicates that a substantial amount of retrofitting will need to be accomplished to provide the necessary infrastructure.

The condition assessment conducted in this study was not a comprehensive barrier analysis per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) . However, the evaluators prepared a summary accessibility evaluation to provide the Department of Education with the information as to where major facility problems exist. Buildings were rated on a four part scale of "Good," "Fair," "Poor," and "Unsatisfactory" where "Good" indicated apparent general compliance with the ADA regarding building accessibility and "Unsatisfactory" indicates inaccessibility.

The average score for the state was 2.4 on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being "Good." Of the 1,221 buildings, 843 were evaluated for accessibility (buildings such as pump houses, teacherages, etc. were not evaluated for accessibility). The number of buildings rated in each of the categories is as follows:

The study also reviewed space requirements of the districts in terms of the square footage requirements incorporated in the Department’s "Rules for Site Selection and School Construction for Wyoming Public School Buildings." Those rules establish standards in terms of minimum square footage amounts per pupil as follows:

• Elementary Schools 140 gross square feet
• Middle/Junior High Schools 175 gross square feet
• High Schools 210 gross square feet

The analysis found that 13 districts did not meet state standards in one or more grade grouping categories, e.g., elementary. Four districts were deficient in all three categories resulting in an overall total of 22 district/grade grouping areas where added space is needed to meet state standards.

The study found that approximately $362.9 million could be justifiably spent to bring all of the 1,221 buildings assessed to an "As New" condition as defined above.

Exhibit 6 presents a breakdown of the needed repairs in dollar amounts by building system and by educational and "all other" buildings for the state as a whole.

Of the above amount, we estimate that $303,973,131 can be associated with "deferred maintenance" as defined in Act 2. This amount is equal to the needed repairs to structural and mechanical/electrical systems. In addition to the amount shown in Exhibit 6, we estimate that $2,012,231 will be needed for the added cost of demolition and complete replacement of the ten buildings that had a combined score below 30. These buildings should normally not be renovated.

It is recognized that the state will need to prioritize its resources to meet the most pressing needs and that funds will need to be allocated accordingly. Although the exact approach will be a Legislative decision, we have prepared Exhibits 7-9 to identify the repair and renovation needs by the degree of severity of building condition. The $2 million for demolition and related costs is included in these tables.

In the areas of educational suitability, technological readiness, and student capacity, the following cost estimates have been prepared:

The total of the amounts calculated for the four categories of needs identified in Exhibits 7 through 12 equals $565,112,217, including the $2 million for demolition and related costs.