Orcas Island School District Superintendent Barbara Kline informed the School Board at its regular meeting on Thursday night that the district has submitted a grant application for $6,000,000 in Qualified School Construction Bonds earlier this month. The application was made to the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to match the[intlink id=”10902″ type=”post”] $460,000 grant for repairs[/intlink] that the district was awarded last month. That grant was awarded conditional to matching the funds 3-to-1.
As was discussed at the December school board meeting, the grant application is a competitive process and may be approved for all of the amount requested, for none of it or for some amount in between, Kline said. She expects to bring a completed plan and resolution to the February meeting for the board’s consideration.
The board made clear its plans to discuss the matter at length next month, and may not come to any decision about the bonds. “We simply don’t have enough information yet,” siad School Board President Janet Brownell.
The board also heard of the increase in the numbers of elementary students receiving free and reduced lunch rates for meals from the school cafeteria. The rates, which are now at 55% (up 20% from last year) are one fo the metrics by which public funding to schools is awarded.
The hot water heater in the elementary school is no longer functional; the school board encouraged that this be fixed or replaced as soon as possible.
The board agreed to postpone a decision about purchasing a new school bus until more information is available about legislative funding for education in the adjusted budget for this year and the biennial budget for 2011-13.
