A new capital grant program for Alabama K-12 schools has awarded $179 million to 327 schools, but it’s unclear why certain schools and districts were selected.

Unlike most individual school funding decisions, this one was controlled by local lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth’s office. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said local lawmakers had a say in which projects were funded.

“Every House member, every senator had to approve every grant request,” he said.

Orr sponsored the bill, passed in 2023, to address the capital needs of K-12 schools, knowing state tax collections had been higher than expected. School districts could apply for one-time funding for construction, debt service, deferred maintenance, school security and technology needs.

According to a release from Ainsworth’s office, grants were provided to 327 schools in 137 school districts. AL.com was unable to confirm the number of school districts, as the list provided with the news release did not provide in which district the school was located.

“We reviewed each application with strict adherence to the law, prioritized the schools and systems where funding would make the biggest impact,” Ainsworth said in his release, “and worked hard to make sure each geographic region and area of the state received a fair allocation.”

Ainsworth’s staff evaluated the grant applications and decided on final awards, as required by the new law, according to Deputy Chief of Staff Catherine Fuller. “Before awarding grants, legislators were asked for insight about specific needs and priorities within their districts.”

Ainsworth’s office did not respond when asked how many applications were received. School officials have until Nov. 30 to accept the award.

The average grant amount was $546,000, but amounts awarded to individual schools for each project ranged from $2,430 to $5 million.

The program required school officials to match some funding on a sliding scale, depending on local tax revenue. Orr said he didn’t want it to be formula-driven or enrollment-driven, which often penalizes smaller districts.

School officials submitted an application for each project at each school, resulting in multiple applications from each school district. Some schools received more than one grant award.

School Superintendent Director Ryan Hollingsworth said he had not seen the list of awards when AL.com spoke with him, but he had heard from some superintendents who received partial awards.

“If a project request, an application was sent in for, let’s say, a million dollars, and it is partially funded,” Hollingsworth said. ”I’m not sure what the district will do if they’re unable to complete the project. If the process allows or the Lieutenant Governor’s office will allow, I’m sure the district will pursue other funding sources down the road.

“We would hate to see a district have to not receive those funds because they can’t come up with a match or come up with the rest of the funding after the partial award was sent out.”

Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Fairhope, said one of the schools that received funding in his district had a “shovel-ready project” ready to go.

Elliott said Ainsworth had visited schools in his Senate district, which includes Baldwin County, Gulf Shores City and Orange Beach City schools. Each received funding for one school project:

• Baldwin County’s Robertsdale High School – $1.75 million
• Gulf Shores High School – $2.5 million
• Orange Beach Middle/High School – $2.5 million

Orr said the total amount of available funding was small in comparison to the proceeds of a $1.5 billion bond issue in 2020. Schools divided proceeds from the bonds based on their enrollment. However, he said, construction costs have grown rapidly over the last few years.

“What people originally thought they could afford back in 2020 when the bill passed wasn’t so affordable two years afterward,” Orr said.

Which schools received awards?

AL.com matched 319 schools with a district. Eight schools could not be matched because there is more than one school with that name. For example, four grants were given to “Central High School” and there are five schools named Central High School statewide.

Breaking the schools that won awards into categories by grade level or function, it looks like this:

• High schools – $74.9 million,
• Elementary schools – $45.9 million,
• Middle schools – $20 million,
• Career technical education centers – $18.6 million,
• Charter schools – $10.2 million,
• Statewide specialty schools – $4.8 million,
• Other facilities – $3.5 million, and
• Pre-K school – $750,000

Of the districts identified, AL.com found that schools receiving awards were located in 126 of the state’s traditional school districts. Awards were given to 18 freestanding career technical centers, 10 charter schools and three statewide specialty schools. Unlike traditional school districts, charter schools and statewide specialty schools do not receive any local tax money.

Officials had to indicate how much of the project’s funding they could match with local tax proceeds, not to exceed more than 35% of the total cost.

School officials could apply for up to $5 million in grant funding for each project. Only one school received $5 million. Ten schools were awarded $2.5 million or more:

• Allen Thornton Career Technical Center – Lauderdale County – $5 million
• Bibb County Career Academy – $4 million
• Cordova Elementary School – Walker County – $4 million
• Hewitt-Trussville High School – Trussville City – $4 million
• Plainview School – DeKalb County – $4 million
• Gulf Shores Elementary School – Gulf Shores City – $2.5 million
• Orchard Elementary School – Mobile County – $2.5 million
• Orange Beach Middle/High School – Orange Beach City – $2.5 million
• Autauga County – $2.5 million, and
• Alabama School of Fine Arts – $2.5 million

According to the news release, 80% of grants were awarded to schools where more than half of the students are considered “at-risk,” but there is no stated definition of “at-risk.”

“After discussions with [state department of education] the grant application asked each applicant to report the percentage of at-risk students attending the school,” Fuller said.

The online application process opened Sept. 7 and closed Oct. 20.

The table below shows the schools and a district where one could be matched along with the amounts. Click here if you are unable to see the table.