The SCILL Center will need some more time to decide whether to accept $2.8 million in federal grant funding. The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded the funding for the construction of a 12,000-square-foot facility in the Knox Industrial Park to house SCILL’s welding and robotics programs, something that’s been discussed for years.
But the grant would apparently require a significant local match, and the Knox Community School Corporation has come up with its own proposal to add a vocational wing onto the high school. SCILL Board President Ron Gifford says the EDA has given them another 15 days to make a decision, extending the deadline to August 23.
Exploring whether the funding could simply be redirected toward the high school addition is something that’s been discussed. But Knox Community School Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart says the school corporation’s attorney has advised against accepting the money directly.
“He feels that the grant does not fit K-to-12 and if we accepted the grant, we could be audited in the future and have to refund the money back, and that’s not a position that I would recommend the board put themselves in,” Reichhart told the school board Tuesday. “And so with that, I am going to inform the SCILL Board that we will not, as a district, be accepting that $2.8 million grant, unfortunately.”
Meanwhile, final design work for the vocational wing continues. Reichhart told the school board Tuesday that the project is set to be bid out by the end of the month, with the proposed greenhouse listed as an alternate. As it stands, it would be funded with leftover project bond revenues and federal ESSER money.
