Friday, September 12, 2003
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Friday, September 12, 2003 |
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Grantville school gets board OK; funding uncertain By JOHN THOMPSON
Residents in Grantville breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday night as the Coweta County Board of Education approved the construction a new school in the western Coweta hamlet. The board voted 4-2, with Marihope Troutman and Mike Sumner opposing it, to build the school without an exact funding source. The school is expected to cost $6.5 million, and school officials are hopeful of getting $2.6 million in funding from the state. Board officials had to make a decision this month to insure the school would be ready for opening day next August. "We're going to be working with our legislators to try and find this money," said school system information officer Dean Jackson. Jackson acknowledged that it might be a tough sell at the General Assembly in January, but said the system is looking at alternative funding methods, including special purpose local-option sales tax funds. "We have some savings from SPLOST projects completed efficiently over the last year and a half, and the school system would use those and coming SPLOST funds for the project," Jackson said. But, he added, using sales tax funds could require, that other projects are delayed or are not funded. "We feel confident, given current SPLOST revenue returns, that we will be able to complete all projects on the $30 million SPLOST priority list and retire outstanding bonds as called for in the 2001 SPLOST referendum," he said.
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