TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Many school infrastructure projects throughout Kern County will be affected by the freezing of state bond money Wednesday.

The state board that oversees infrastructure bonds froze $3.8 billion for projects statewide until state budget woes are resolved, including a $7.9 million grant to the Kern High School District.

The freeze puts a hold on the district’s plans to modernize classrooms and expand facilities for career technical education, said Dennis Scott, Kern High associate superintendent of business.

Projects at Arvin, Bakersfield, East, Highland, Independence, Mira Monte and North high schools will be affected, Scott said.

With $1 million, North High planned to modernize its wood shop facility and acquire equipment for its agriculture and construction programs, said Vice Principal John Meyers.

The laser plasma cutter and a laminar flowhood, an enclosed bench used to conduct sterile plant experiments, won’t arrive this spring as planned.

The equipment and upgrades would have brought North’s programs up to industry standards, helping students move more smoothly into industry jobs, Meyers said.

In Kernville, $4.4 million frozen was to fund a new gymnasium and community center plus 20 new middle school classrooms, according to Superintendent Mary Barlow.

“It's significant,” Barlow said.

A local bond will help cover the project construction until June but if the state hasn’t passed a budget by then, the district will have to consider using short-term bridge loans to cover the state’s share and complete the project, Barlow said. Veterans Elementary in the Norris School District won’t be held up — because the district built it two years ago using local funding.

Norris doesn’t begin to build a school unless it has the money in the bank, said Superintendent Wallace E. McCormick.

The state still owes Norris its $503,000 share of the school, now in its second year of operation.

If the money were in the Norris bank account, instead of frozen in Sacramento, the district would be shopping for future school sites, McCormick said.

Officials said Wednesday the state simply cannot sell the bonds needed to fund the thousands of projects affected across the state. They said the state needs what’s in the Pooled Money Investment fund to keep basic state services functioning.