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Grayson County schools seek grant for $4 million Independence Elementary renovation
Summary
Superintendent Kelly Wilmore told the Board of Supervisors that two aging trailers at Independence Elementary are unsafe and urged the county to consider applying for a state grant that could cover 20'30% of an estimated $4 million renovation, reducing the local share if awarded.
Kelly Wilmore, superintendent of Grayson County Public Schools, appealed to the county board on Feb. 15 for help addressing dire space and safety issues at Independence Elementary, where two aged trailers are currently serving as classrooms and a library.
"Our kids deserve better than those 2 trailers," Wilmore said, describing one trailer housing three classrooms and another serving as a single classroom where a fifth-grade class currently meets. She outlined a plan to remove one trailer and add a roughly 3,000-square-foot, four-classroom addition and expand the cafeteria by about 1,200 square feet.
Wilmore told supervisors the full renovation and cafeteria work would cost roughly $4,000,000 if done at one time: about $3,000,000 for renovation and roughly $1,000,000 for a new cafeteria. She said a state grant under consideration in Richmond could cover roughly 20'30% of such projects if reauthorized, reducing the county's potential outlay by roughly a quarter.
Board members signaled willingness to review the proposal during the budget cycle. One supervisor noted staff had already run financing estimates and that a loan repayment scenario would likely cost the county about $2'2.5 per $1,000 of assessed value (staff estimate provided verbally). The county administrator and finance staff said they would include the project in upcoming budget discussions and encouraged supervisors to tour the school before final decisions.
Wilmore highlighted longer-term investments already made in the district, citing recent renovations of the high school and middle school funded partly with COVID-era dollars and new roofing work across older buildings. She also emphasized workforce and career-technical investments such as a welding lab supported by community donations and a new vocational lab she described as "second to none in Southwest Virginia."
The board did not take immediate formal action on the request; members asked staff to run numbers during the budget work sessions and consider applying for any available state grant funds. Wilmore left the board with a request that supervisors visit the Independence campus to view current conditions first-hand.
Looking ahead, county staff said the budget cycle offers the opportunity to evaluate how much local funding the county could commit if the grant program materializes and how a county loan or bond would affect the general fund and debt service.
