School board approves $1.86 million land purchase for regional CAPS facility

The Cache County School Board voted unanimously on Feb. 19 to buy a 5.32-acre parcel in North Logan for $1,862,000 to build a regional CAPS (Capstone/CTE) facility, board members said.

Jared Black, the district’s business administrator, told the board the district’s grant application to the state Catalyst Center program was approved and that the grant funding will cover the land purchase and construction of the facility. Black said the district obtained an appraisal valuing the property at about $1,900,000 and that the purchase price is slightly below that appraisal.

"This will allow the school district to build a CAPS center just off of 14th North," Black said, describing the project as a shared resource that will provide opportunities for students from Cache, Logan and Box Elder school districts. He said the parcel is "just a little bit over 5 acres" and that the district will use the state grant to pay for the purchase.

John (last name not provided), who described the proposed CAPS program to the board, said the facility would host six educational strands where juniors and seniors work with industry partners and mentors on industry-assigned projects coached by teachers. He said the facility would enable programs that were previously limited to a single school — for example, the district’s biotech program at Green Canyon — to serve students from multiple high schools using existing transportation schedules.

Board member Randall Bagley moved to approve the purchase; the motion was seconded and the board voted electronically, with the motion passing unanimously, the board president announced.

The district and superintendent said the Catalyst Center grant was part of a larger state allocation for catalyst centers; Superintendent Todd McKee later noted the district was awarded about $15.25 million of a $65 million state set-aside for such centers.

Next steps for the project include finalizing purchase paperwork, moving forward with CAPS program planning and using the grant to develop the building and program strands, administrators said. The board did not provide a construction schedule or firm timelines for program launch during the meeting.

Votes, approvals and funding sources were described in the meeting materials and discussed on the record; specific vendor names, final contract terms and construction timelines were not provided at the Feb. 19 meeting.