School division seeks extra local match to maximize $250,000 state security grant; CTE center design paused and shows cost increases

School officials told the Amelia County Board of Supervisors the division received a $250,000 state security grant but must provide a larger local match than originally budgeted to capture the full award. Separately, the division updated the board on a previously frozen Career and Technical Education (CTE) center project that has design costs and additional funding requests.

Why it matters: If the school division secures the full state award, the county will need to appropriate additional local matching dollars. The CTE capital project is a significant capital request that remains paused and carries increased estimated costs, affecting county capital planning.

A school division representative said the county originally budgeted $75,000 in anticipated state revenue and $25,000 in local match for the security program. The final award came in at $250,000 in state funds; the full local match for that award is $62,500. The division previously asked the board to appropriate additional state and local funds to close a gap: a request described in the packet sought $175,000 in state funds and $37,500 in local funds to meet the required match and maximize the state allocation.

The division outlined what the grant would buy by school: the largest cost item cited was upgraded classroom door hardware to enable RFID access and centralized control, described as a security improvement to replace keyed classroom doors. The school representative said the RFID hardware would default to locked and could be managed centrally and that the grant application was intentionally higher than the expected award level to preserve flexibility if the state selected only some project types for funding.

On capital projects, the school division reported the CTE center project remains frozen. The project was previously appropriated at $8,100,000, but design-phase escalations and site issues have generated an additional funding request of $2,930,538. The division also reported it has an existing architectural services contract for the design phase totaling $757,750 and that about $170,430 has been spent to date on design work.

Ending: Supervisors said they would continue consideration of the school’s appropriation request as part of the broader budget process and noted procurement and project timing concerns if the board wants to proceed with large equipment or door-hardware replacements. No final appropriation decision was recorded at the meeting.