Gov. Steve Bullock and Department of Commerce Director Meg O’Leary visited Elrod Elementary School on Tuesday to listen to local school leaders talk about infrastructure needs and rally support for the administration’s Build Montana Plan.

In attendance were Fair-Mont-Egan Principal Christine Schmidt-Anthony, Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau and West Valley Superintendent Cal Ketchum, along with board members from the various schools.

Build Montana, part of House Bill 5 sponsored by Rep. Jeff Welborn, R-Dillon, outlines $391.2 million in statewide infrastructure and capital improvements such as roads, bridges, water systems and schools. According to an economic analysis prepared by the Montana Department of Commerce, the Build Montana Plan would generate $561 million in economic output, create 4,293 jobs and increase wages by about $200 million.

Projects would be funded through a mixture of cash and bonds taking advantage of the state’s high credit rating and low interest rates, according to Bullock. Bullock said this approach would allow the state to pay for upgrades over a long period of time similar to what businesses and homeowners do.

“These are meaningful investments we can make not just today but long into the future,” Bullock said.

For school infrastructure this may mean $12 million in projects would be covered with cash and $19 million financed through bonds.

However, the Republican leadership in the Legislature has broken up House Bill 5 into separate bills and removed the bonding component. That could make it harder to fund priority projects in local schools, ranging from replacing aging boilers to asbestos abatement.

“At this point right now, all of your projects are cut out now — at least what’s been counter-proposed,” Bullock said.

Contained in the Build Montana Plan is the Quality Schools Grant programs that provide funding through the Montana Department of Commerce for emergency planning and facility projects.

Last week, Flatau and Ketchum testified in Helena about the successes of Quality School Grants in upgrading facilities and meeting future needs.

Kalispell Public Schools currently has applied for a Quality Schools grant for about $550,000 toward $1 million in projects for the five elementary schools and Kalispell Middle School.

“From our perspective, the need is so great the bonding component is a sensible solution and prudent solution,” Flatau said. “We are all depending on the bonding component being approved.”

“The bulk of the next round [of grant funding] we’re hoping to get would impact our elementary district primarily at our middle school. We have boilers originally installed in the 1960s —  steam driven — extremely inefficient. [We would do] conversion there to new boiler systems.”

The district benefited in the 2012-13 school year from a $1.2 million Quality Schools grant for more than $3 million in energy-efficient projects that have saved the district $140,000 in annual energy costs.

“We’re very supportive of the grant. The grant we had last year addressed 40 percent of the infrastructure needs at Flathead High School,” Flatau said. “From a grant standpoint it’s allowing us to hit our highest needs.”

At Fair-Mont-Egan School, a rural kindergarten through eighth-grade district, asbestos abatement in the stage ceiling and gym flooring is a priority.

Schmidt-Anthony said the school received a $379,000 Quality Schools grant in 2011, allowing Fair-Mont-Egan to build two classrooms and connect the gym to the school, complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We were doing a lot of instruction in rooms and places not intended for instruction — on the stage [and] in closets,” Schmidt-Anthony said. “In our current grant application we are adding two classrooms to move the middle school in one wing. Right now we have 6-foot, 4-inch hallways with eighth-graders passing through kindergarteners trying to get from place A to place B.”

Schmidt-Anthony also talked about the district being fiscally responsible by paying off all its bonds.

Flatau asked Bullock how they should approach legislators about the matter.

Bullock advised administrators and trustees to advocate for House Bill 5 with local legislators.

“Your voice is going to be more persuasive than my voice,” Bullock said. “Bonding plus cash just really makes sense if we’re going to really meet all these needs.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.