After an extended period of stillness, there is again action regarding a new school in Mitchell County.
The Mitchell County Board of Education during its regular meeting on Thursday, Jan. 27 unanimously approved a decision to apply for a lottery grant of up to $40 million for the construction of a new school for grades 3-8.
“We started this process several years ago and paused when COVID hit us,” said Superintendent Chad Calhoun. “It put us in a bind and now we have an opportunity to get lottery funds.”
Discussions of a new school started in late 2019 and continued into 2020. At that time, the school system had a $15 million lottery grant that required a $5 million match. The system also budgeted $10.5 million in lottery money, which was anticipated from a previous state budget years prior but never came through.
Those funds, in addition to borrowing $7 million in sales tax money which would have caused no increase to taxpayers, gave the system $32.5 million to use toward the project. The total estimated project cost in 2020 was about $38 million.
The school system must apply for the latest grant by March 15 and if approved, would know in April. If approved, the $40 million grant would replace the previous grant funding. Unlike the previous grant, the $40 million in 2022 would not require a local match.
Mitchell County got a similar lottery grant in 1998-99 when funds came through to construct Greenlee Primary, Calhoun said. He added that the goal has always been to build a new school without burdening local taxpayers.
If approved and to supplement the grant, Calhoun estimates that the county could borrow up to $10 million in sales tax money without causing a burden to taxpayers.
The board will discuss the project in greater detail, including updated cost estimates, during its February meeting. Cost estimates for the project are outdated and will need to be updated. Additionally, agreements with the project construction manager and architect must be revisited.
The Mitchell County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners would also need to iron out an updated memorandum of understanding for the project.
The school was slated to go in Ledger, near the Mitchell County Schools Central Office and just down the road from Mitchell High. That proposed location would still be the ideal site in 2022.
“We don’t know what it costs yet but we feel good about it,” Calhoun said. “These grant opportunities don’t come around often, so we have to take advantage and try for them when they do.”