By Kristina Smith

The Kentucky Board of Education has approved a request from the Corbin Independent School District for a grade configuration change.

During a March meeting of Corbin Independent’s Local Planning Committee, an amendment to the district facility plan was drafted to submit for KBE approval. That amendment reconfigured the district to four, instead of the current five, kindergarden through grade 12 schools.

On Thursday, Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel once again called together the Local Planning Committee to announce their amendment had been approved by the KBE.

“They accepted everything we added to it,” McNeel told the committee.

The new grade configuration keeps kindergarden through second grade students in the primary school. However, it places together third through fifth grade students in elementary school and sixth through eighth grade students in the middle school. The high school grades remain the same, and the intermediate school level is done away with.

The grade configuration change comes before the district brakes ground at the site of their new middle school, to be located on property formerly home to St. Camillus Academy.

The approval from KBE also means more state-provided funding for the new middle school project.

The middle school will hold a large amount of students with the grade configuration change — 800 students in comparison to the 600 originally planned for. More students means the need for a larger school, which ultimately costs more money.

Last September the district received an offer of assistance for the new middle school project which was at the time estimated to cost around $20 million. With the offer of assistance, the district would cash in the $5 million in bonding potential they have set aside for the project and the Kentucky Department of Education’s School Facilities Construction Commission would pay for the remaining cost.

Now, however, the larger school is anticipated to cost around $25 million, and the same conditions still apply for the offer of assistance. The district will use their $5 million in bonding potential for the project, and the state will pay for the rest.

“That leaves the FSCC putting in nearly $20 million for the project,” McNeel said.

Before any construction can begin, or any funds can be received, a few more steps must be taken though.

The KBE accepted amendment of the district’s facility plan will go to the Corbin Board of Education for approval on April 23. If the board votes to approve the amendment, a public hearing must be held.

After the public hearing, the district will gather any comments received during the hearing and send them to the Kentucky Department of Education, from whom the final approval for the grade configuration change must come.