News Headlines
Source: Crittenden Press, Marion, March 11, 2010
Crittenden in line for new middle school
Livingston would get one as well
By Chris Evans
Crittenden County School District will be granted $6.4 million to build a new middle school if the House’s budget is approved during the legislative process ongoing in Frankfort.
As part of its two-year spending plan, the House of Representatives is expected to approve this week a measure that calls for selling state bonds to fund replacement of Kentucky’s most aged schools, among them Crittenden and
Livingston middle schools.
Rep. Mike Cherry (D-Princeton) explained that Kentucky rates school buildings on a scale of 1-5 with five being those in the greatest need of repair or replacement. Crittenden and Livingston middle schools are both Category 4 schools, he said.
Actually, Crittenden County is a 4.7 and has even been rated worse by some inspectors, said Crittenden County Superintendent Dr. Rachel Yarbrough. She remains guardedly optimistic that the age and condition of the middle school will improve its consideration as legislative negotiations continue at the Capitol.
“Whether this stands through the senate and the remainder of the budgetary process, who knows,” Cherry said Tuesday.
Local school officials are not getting too excited just yet, but part of the battle is already won, Yarbrough said.
“It’s big. It’s so important to make the list and be put into the budget language,” the superintendent said.
This is the first time Crittenden Middle School has found itself on a line item in any state budget. Crittenden Middle School was built in 1949, originally as a high school. It opened to make way for county consolidation, bringing high school students from Dycusburg, Frances, Shady Grove, Mattoon and Tolu to Marion.
In 1957, Marion and Crittenden high schools consolidated, putting even more students into the building. In 1975, the current high school was built and middle school students from county schools were bused to town where they convened at the current middle school. It has served as the countywide middle school for 35 years.
The school district’s Facilities Plan has long included a provision for building a new middle school. The plan submitted to the state for its consideration calls for a nearly $6.5 million facility. That leaves roughly $100,000 that will have to come from local funding. Yarbrough said the local building fund has about $50,000 in it. She said that squeezing another $50,000 from its local budget could be done if the House appropriation holds.
Meanwhile, Livingston County is penciled in to receive $3.1 million to replace its middle school at Burna. The county’s facility plan calls for a $4.6 million project, according to Cherry.
There are obvious political stumbling blocks ahead for the House’s plan to fund some Category 4 schools. One instance is in Paducah where its middle school, a category 5, was not included in the House spending plan. The Paducah Sun reported Tuesday that the middle school there was left out of the plan because of political retribution against a local lawmaker.
Still, Cherry thinks there might even be additional bonds sold in order to further stimulate the economy by putting people to work on construction jobs. He reasons that with bond rates low, now is the time to borrow in order to build schools and lower the state’s near record unemployment.
Although the school system’s longterm facilities plan has included the desire for a new middle school, Yarbrough said detailed planning has not been part of the process because it seemed too distant. She said the facility plan includes a list of more affordable goals.
“If we get $6.4 million, a middle school becomes the top priority of our facility plan. It will become our facility plan,” she said. It’s too early to begin speculating about details of what will happen if the funding comes through, Yarbrough said. Either a major overhaul of the current building or a whole new school might be part of the plan.
Yarbrough said the board of education will be looking at the possibilities of the land behind the school where the highway garage is now located.