Roofs need to be replaced. Elevators need upgrades. Restrooms need renovation.
It would take about $427 million to complete the hundreds of necessary projects in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. The district is receiving $38.2 million in additional bond funding from the county, but that will only cover a fraction of the list.
WS/FCS Director of Construction Services Nick Seeba presented a rubric to prioritize the projects at a meeting on Tuesday.
"We can make a plan all day long, but if something fails, we have to shift gears and do something different. So this isn't a crystal ball," Seeba said. "It doesn't say 'This is where you're going to get hit the hardest next.' It just says, based off of all these different things, this is how projects rank out."
The rubric, which is subject to change, prioritizes working on schools with higher enrollment, higher levels of poverty, and lower school performance grades. It also gives more weight to projects with higher risks associated with not doing them.
The district has until May 10 to determine how to allocate the funds.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.