As Congress edges closer to passing a federal stimulus package that could send as much as $250 million to Washington state for K-12 and higher education, school districts and others have been guessing at the parameters of the final disbursements and dusting off potential projects they hope could pass muster.

Spokane-area schools have no shortage of potential plans for such money, but the scope of what they can do with the funding looks to be more narrow than some of their earlier hopes.

Greater Spokane Incorporated has compiled an inventory of 297 potential proposed education, energy, housing, and clean-water projects identified for stimulus funding by school districts and others, including 78 education-related projects that would cost a total of about $253 million to complete.

"We had projects submitted by ESD 101, Spokane Public Schools, Washington State University, Community Colleges of Spokane, and Whitworth University," says Rich Hadley, GSI's president and CEO.

GSI has sought to help develop a comprehensive list and estimate the economic impacts of projects here by inviting organizations to submit projects they are proposing for possible funding. At the same time, the Spokane Regional Transportation Council has compiled an inventory of transportation-related projects, he says.

Among education projects inventoried by GSI are construction of a $37 million biology-chemistry building at Whitworth, a $4 million renovation at WSU's Riverpoint South Campus, replacements of Spokane School District 81's Westview and Jefferson elementary schools, along with a slew of deferred maintenance projects such as roof repairs and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system upgrades, Hadley says.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire's office says the dollars funneled through the state will come with more federal control of the purse strings than officials had imagined, and not all of the capital funding will be project-based.

"The one thing about it is they're sending most of the money in very specific categories and formulas," says Dick Thompson, a volunteer special assistant to the governor on the federal stimulus package. "The sense that the state would have a lot of discretion to use the money is not the case."

The funding for K-12 public education, for example, likely won't be project-based, Thompson says. The U.S. House of Representatives' version of the stimulus package, passed at the end of last month, would send about $125 million to Washington state for K-12 education, with the stipulation that it be distributed to school districts using the same formula that's used to disburse state basic education dollars, Thompson says. In that version of the package, another $125 million would come to Washington for higher education, predominantly for renovation and energy-efficiency projects, he says.

The Senate version of the package, which has been under debate, also includes $125 million for K-12 education in Washington state, but would include $65 million to $70 million for higher education in the state. It's believed that a final measure will be signed by President Obama on Feb. 16, Thompson says.

Realigning expectations

The federal package is shaping up to be much different from what most organizations had envisioned based on early comments by then President-elect Obama.

"As we get closer, we are finding it isn't exactly what we thought in terms of being a stimulus for the economy in the short term," Hadley says. "Some of the categories of spending are interesting in that they don't appear to be in the category of 'shovel ready' or producing immediate employment."

What types of projects can be paid for with the money could be quite prescribed in the end, he says.

For example, language in the funding packages for education stipulates that 25 percent of the money must be used for "green" improvements, or projects that have environmental benefit, Thompson says. There's also language that says the money isn't intended to supplant other funding already approved for projects, but things that need legislative approval and aren't funded could be eligible.

Though Community Colleges of Spokane has several major capital projects already included in the governor's proposed state economic stimulus package, it and other community colleges also have what they call "B" lists of maintenance projects. Those rarely are funded by the Legislature, says Greg Plummer, the district's director of facilities.

The requests for the 2009-2011 biennium that CCS believes could be eligible for federal funding include a total of $3 million for Spokane Community College to repair roofs, replace suspended ceiling tiles and bathroom fixtures in the Main Building, replace the hot water system in the Lair Student Center, rebuild the automotive building's roll-up doors, and replace deteriorated hardware on exit doors across campus, Plummer says. Also included in those requests is $700,000 for roof repairs at Spokane Falls Community College.

Meanwhile, North Idaho College has submitted two projects for consideration for federal stimulus funding, including about $300,000 to pave and seal coat parking areas around its Lee Hall and on the street in front of it, and another $75,000 for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrades, says John Martin, vice president of community relations and marketing for the college. In addition, NIC is preparing a submission to the Idaho state Board of Education for a $21 million professional-technical education facility that it hopes might be eligible for stimulus funds, he says.

How much of the stimulus funding would be disbursed to private institutions such as Whitworth University isn't clear yet, says Brian Benzel, Whitworth's vice president of finance and administration.

"The predominant part will go to public institutions, but our student base is in the calculation for it, so it's our hope that private education will get some of the funding," Benzel says.

In addition to its science center project, Whitworth has smaller energy-efficiency projects that altogether would cost about $2 million, along with other small window projects and electrical upgrades, he says.

Gonzaga University hasn't compiled a list, instead waiting to see what the final rules are, but could seek money primarily for energy conservation projects, says Gonzaga spokesman Dale Goodwin.

The timing of the funding is not as straightforward as many officials had expected either, Thompson says. He says there was some sense that the money would be disbursed within 90 days after passage of the legislation, but each part of the stimulus package will be on its own timeline.

"In some cases, it's in 10 days, in some cases it's 90 days. We thought it would be one set of rules, but it's all different," Thompson says. Money for higher education would be available somewhere between 180 days and a year from passage of the package, he says.

For the state's part, however, it's all money to the good, despite any desire for more latitude in how it is spent.

"We aren't complaining," he says.

In addition to the federal stimulus package currently making its way through Congress, a number of disbursements are expected to be added on top of typical federal education allocations, Thompson says. Among them is $177 million in additional federal Title I funding for disadvantaged K-12 schools, an additional $256 million for special education, and an additional $13 million to the state for K-12 technology.

Also, the federal government is looking to spend an additional $24 billion nationwide to restore K-12 and higher education to their 2008 funding levels, before funding cuts, though it's not clear yet how much of that money would come to Washington state, Thompson says.