CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Kanawha County School leaders went before the state School Building Authority Tuesday looking for some financial help.
Superintendent Ron Duerring made a 10-minute presentation to the SBA on the need for renovations to Andrews Heights Elementary School in Tornado.
“We have students out in four portable [classrooms]. We’ve had moisture and water issues there,” explained Duerring. “We’ve corrected that but what we would like to do, for safety, is to get children back in brick and mortar, back into the main building.”
The money would go toward five new classrooms, a computer lab and an expanded cafeteria/gym. That comes at a cost of $2.7 million. The county has $700,000 for the project. Duerring requested $2 million from the SBA.
“We absolutely need the SBA funding to help us with this project,” stressed Duerring.
In the past five years, Kanawha County has received substantial funding from the SBA for two new elementary schools on Charleston’s West Side. Duerring said a lot of county money is tied up at the moment and that’s why they went back to the SBA, for more funding.
“We have a lot of projects going on in the school system. There’s a lot of maintenance needs and our dollars are stretched very thin. It’s very difficult to come up with the total $2.7 million to do a project,” according to Duerring.
The superintendent is optimistic the SBA will realize the importance of the project.
“I hope they really see the need we have to improve the quality of life out there and the school environment.”
Eighteen school systems are asking for a total of $120– million this funding cycle. The SBA has just $45 million to hand out. They’ll make their final decision on who gets that money April 28.