North Carolina has awarded $73 million in grant funds for school construction in six economically distressed counties.
WRAL-TV reports that the money from the state's Needs Based Public School Capital Fund will go to Camden, Graham, Hertford, Northampton, Rutherford and Wilson counties.
“This is the third year these funds have been made available to benefit our students and educators who have had to deal with outdated facilities,” says Mark Johnson, the state's superintendent of public instruction. “These grants will help address our state’s need to replace old, outdated schools with better learning environments.“
Over the past three years, the has awarded a total of $242 million dollars to local school districts, resulting in 22 new schools or buildings and the replacement of 32 schools.
This year's awards:
Camden County: $10 million to build a new Camden County High School that will also house Camden Early College High School ($33.3 million total project cost).
Graham County: $3.2 million to build an addition to Robbinsville Middle School to house 6th grade and other renovations to the existing middle/high school building space to accommodate the 6th grade addition ($4.2 million total project cost).
Hertford County: $15 million to build a new Ahoskie Elementary School. It will have areas for after-hours community activities. ($20 million total project cost).
Northampton County: $15 million for a new Northampton High School adjacent to the county recreation department that would share field, gymnasium and parking with the county facility ($34.7 million total project cost).
Rutherford County: $15 million for a new Rutherford-Spindale Middle School to replace the existing 94-year old school building. ($35 million total project cost).
Wilson County: $15 million to expand the Wilson County Schools Early College of Applied Technology Academy. The academy will move from shared space in an existing high school to a new 75,000-square-foot facility on the Wilson Community College Technology campus. ($20 million total project cost).
The state legislature created the fund to help school districts in lower-wealth counties that have critical public school building capital needs.The money comes from proceeds from the North Carolina Education Lottery.
