Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs Board of Education member Roger Good is a newly appointed member of the state’s Capital Construction Assistance Board, a group that vets grant requests for school capital construction projects.

Good threw his name in the running for a vacant spot on the CCAB in May and learned earlier this month he had been selected.

“It’s a great opportunity to give back to education on a broader scale than just Steamboat,” Good said Monday. “It’s certainly got a scope across the entire state.”

The CCAB’s primarily role is to make recommendations for funding Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST, grants, a pool of money that includes lottery spillover dollars, marijuana taxes and primarily state land trust funds.

BEST is a competitive grant program open to all public school districts, charter schools and boards of cooperative educational services.

Since it was established in 2008, the program has funded 261 applications totaling more than $1.2 billion in construction projects, including a $3.2 million grant toward construction of the North Routt Community Charter School in Clark, awarded in 2010.

The BEST program targets high-need districts, using criteria that weigh a district’s ability to fund projects, factoring in median household income, unreserved general fund balance and percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch, among others.

In the case of North Routt Community Charter School, school leaders in 2010 were first asked to raise a 35-percent match to earn BEST grant funding, but during a second grant cycle, the match was reduced to 20 percent.

Due to the criteria, in the unlikely event that the Steamboat Springs School District were awarded a grant, it’s expected the district would have to put up a 79-percent match on any received funds.

The South Routt School District would have a 45-percent match, and the Hayden School District would have a 57-percent match on grant applications.

Good said funding criteria are potentially revised legislatively each year.

Last year, the BEST program awarded about $47 million to 24 schools or districts across the state for projects including roof replacements, safety and security upgrades and school renovations.

Good is the only school board member on the board, which is also comprised of two school facilities planners or managers and an architect, engineer, construction manager, school technology expert, public school finance expert and public school superintendent.

Good will attend a training session and his first meeting Wednesday.

To reach Teresa Ristow, call 970-871-4206, email tristow@SteamboatToday.com or follow her on Twitter @TeresaRistow