Woodlawn Approves Conceptional Budget For Career Ed Center

RISON - The Woodlawn School Board approved a conceptional budget of nearly $2.2 million for the new career education center, approved new steps for the teachers’ salary schedule and agreed to buy new playground equipment for the elementary during its regular monthly meeting Monday night.Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hancock said Brody Richardson of Brody Richardson Construction of Sheridan was selected as the construction manager for the new building. He said Richardson presented the board with  a conceptional budget of $2.198 million to build the new career education center. A conceptional budget is an estimate based on a basic set of plans that lacks the details.Hancock said that estimated was within the budget the district had allotted for the project, and the board approved it. The district will now move forward and have a more detailed set of plans developed. During the March meeting,Hancock told the board the size of the career education building has been reduced to 6,721 square feet to put it in more in line with the partnership money the district received to fund the project. He added that the architect, Polks Stanley Wilcox, was submitting the plans to the state. Woodlawn asked for a 9,891 square foot building in its  original partnership grant application. However, the state reduced that to 6,194 square feet based on its assessment of the district’s enrollment and needs. Late last year, Woodlawn learned it had received $1,290,334.40 in state partnership money to put toward the project. The rest of the funding will come from the two-mill tax increase approved by voters last year and other sources. Rather than rely solely on the $2.2 million generated by the 2-mill tax increase, Hancock said he wanted to consider other funding options as well. To address that, he said the Woodlawn School Board will have board training at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, followed by a special school board meet...