DENVER—The Colorado House voted Tuesday to authorize more people to inspect the safety of public school buildings after reports that some schools had not been checked in decades.
The Associated Press reported last year that some local fire officials had not seen a state schools inspector in 20 years. A former state inspector told the AP the state barred him from any inspection that required an overnight trip, making it nearly impossible to check schools on the Western Slope.
The House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill giving the Division of Oil and Public Safety, which is responsible for inspecting public school and junior college district buildings, the power delegate inspections to local building departments or a third-party inspector.
The bill faces another vote in the House before it goes to the Senate.
Rep. Victor Mitchell, who sponsored the measure, said Colorado has about 300 school construction projects a year. State law requires the state to certify many of the new buildings, but there aren’t enough state inspectors to do that, he said.
Mitchell, a Castle Rock Republican, said the bill requires the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Safety to help track building plans.
In August, state lawmakers approved $349,000 in emergency funding to hire inspectors after the AP reported that fire officials had documented fires that got out of hand, school roofs that collapsed and an elementary school where exposed electrical wiring was found the day before it was scheduled to open. Fortunately, no one was injured, they said.
A state audit found numerous fire and building code violations in architectural drawings for 10 school projects, including insufficient sprinklers, fire walls and exits.
Some of the projects were completed and occupied and others were still under construction. Auditors said the failures presented a serious threat to public safety.
