WOODLAWN - The Woodlawn School approved a resolution during its regular monthly meeting last Tuesday night that will generate about $1 million in construction money that the district can use for building the cafeteria addition.Also, the board unanimously approved Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hancock's recommendation to provide all full-time staff with a one-time, non-recurring payment of $500, which he said will cost the district about $40,000. He told the board that the one-time payments were included in the budget.Jason Holsclaw with Stephens, Inc., the district's financial adviser, told the school board that the district will actually be buying about $1.6 million in bonds since the bond issue will also include money to pay off about $532,000 still owed on a 2015 bond issue. That bond will be rolled over into the new bond for a single payment.In April, voters in the Woodlawn School District approved a 2-mill tax increase that would fund construction of the cafeteria expansion as well as a new career education center. Both projects were included in the state's partnership program, which is a program where the state pays a portion of the construction costs based on the district's wealth index.Woodlawn was included on the partnership list for two projects. The district was awarded $395,3236.28 to help pay for the cafeteria expansion and $1,290,334.40 to go to the new career education center. However, the cafeteria project received the partnership funding but the career education center was not among the projects to rece.Every two years the state sets aside a certain amount of money to fund partnership projects across the state. Districts submit projects for the program, and those accepted are ranked based on need and other factors. The money set aside for partnership funding is then allotted to those projects in the order that they are ranked.However, if a district on the partnership list does not have the matching funds to ac...
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