file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Long-range facilities plan – the district applied for a ROD grant (Regular Operating District Grants) for the work being done on the Ridgewood High School roof. However, we will not hear if the grant is awarded until the fall, therefore, we are asking the Ridgewood BOE to approve the work being done on the roof as an emergency to ensure that we can still qualify for the grant if awarded.
What is a ROD Grant, in 2000, the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act provided an initial authorization of $2.6 billion for grants to Regular Operating Districts (RODs), including $100 million for vocational schools. Then, on July 9, 2008 legislation was signed providing an additional $1 billion in funding for RODs including $50 million for vocational schools. The Department of Education (DOE) developed an application process to allocate these funds, which are disbursed by the SDA.
In 2022, legislation (S2944) was signed which allocated $350 million in ROD Grant Funding for high-priority capital projects in school districts throughout the State.
More information on the Grant Program for School Facilities Projects in RODs is available on the DOE Web site at: www.state.nj.us/education/facilities.
School districts are eligible to receive at least 40 percent of eligible project costs. For a school facilities project to be considered for the grant funding allocated in 2022, the proposed scope of work must be 100 percent eligible for State support all fall under one of the eligible project categories. Funds may be used to address needs such as improving air quality, upgrading building systems, ADA upgrades, technology infrastructure upgrades, and repairs to the exterior building skin. Only projects that are 100 percent eligible for state support and included in one of the prioritization “levels” will be considered by DOE, although districts may request debt-service aid for other projects. Projects that require a local referendum to raise the local funding portion will not be eligible for this ROD funding.
For more information on the current funding eligibility, please see the DOE and SDA Joint Broadcast .
Following approval by the DOE, the project will be transmitted to SDA who will then offer a grant to the district. Upon proof of local share and completion of other required grant-related documents, the SDA is then able to execute a grant agreement.
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These grants are nice to apply for, however; looking at the current Ridgewood Capital Accounts, they do have enough funds to cover the 10 million grants they requested. Just another example of this dysfunctional Board of Education in action!
The Ridgewood Library recently undertook a large Roof replacement
Late this winter/Spring.
What would be the backup plan for Ridgewood High School if funding
Falls out of cycle as per the 10 million dollars our commenter sighted..
Mild winter weather betting is a loosing
game..what other Fat can be Cut..?
Example/ Fireworks cash up in smoke..
The roof if being replaced regardless of the grant.
If we get the grant, it’s icing on the cake.
Good luck getting the roof replaced before school starts. All the roofing are most likely booked. What about the funds needed for the remaining grants that total about $7,000,000 ….
They don’t get to grant they just raise taxes to pay for it come on
Will this cut into funds being used to groom our kids?