Money will soon be available to repair and/or build new schools.
Schools will be able to borrow money, interest-free and will not have to pay it back in full. The money will come through the "Qualified School Construction Bond” program. It was created by the federal stimulus plan. Alabama school systems will share $236 million.
Fourteen of the state's 46 schools receiving bond money are right here in central Alabama. Jefferson County will receive nearly $8 million. It's dedicated to Erwin Elementary.
Erwin Elementary Principal Mike Barlow is a happy man right now.
Erwin Elementary Principal Mike Barlow said, "Great news, love those kind of phone calls."
Barlow just received the news his school in northeast Jefferson County will get an upgrade worth $7.8 million. One main problem is open-air hallways.
Barlow said, "Well it's wonderful today, walking around, but in February or particularly rainy days it's rough to get out.”
Principal Barlow remembers well - the days right after the school was first built in the mid 1950s. He was a student there.
Linda asked, “This is just another hallway of yours now?” Rosalie Ritchey said, “we've never had hallways before, not these kind of corridors that join buildings."
Pinson Elementary enclosed its open-air hallways in the summer of 2008. That's the plan at Erwin. Once it's done there will be more teaching time, and less time to worry about safety.
Barlow said, "These days there’s always concerns for just safety of your physical plant and with 11 buildings, spread out over a pretty good size campus, it'll be nice to track the campus for management purposes."
Jefferson County originally applied for $16 million for Erwin Elementary renovations but received half that.
According to Gov. Riley, school systems are expected to receive all of their allocated funds by early 2010.
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