District 15 seeking state grant to reduce expense of new roof for Palatine school
Palatine Township Elementary District 15 will try to grab a slice of $44 million in state grants available for school building projects.
District 15 board members this week voted to apply for a $50,000 award from the state's school maintenance project grant. The district had to submit the application by Friday to the North Cook Immediate Service Center and Regional Office of Education.
School board President Lisa Szczupaj complimented District 15 Chief School Business Official Michael Adamczyk for finding the grant opportunity offered by the Illinois State Board of Education. She said the $50,000 would be "quite unexpected" to assist in paying for a new roof for Jane Addams Elementary School in Palatine.
"It's a great find," Adamczyk said. "It'll cut our costs down."
In December, the school board approved Waukegan-based Stuckey Construction Co.'s $1.6 million bid for the Jane Addams project. The roof replacement is to begin this summer and will be paid from the 2020-21 capital projects budget, officials said.
According to the state board of education, the school maintenance project grant has a maximum matching award of $50,000. School districts must use the money for the maintenance or upkeep of buildings for educational purposes.
Roughly $44 million is available for projects already in the planning stages, according to the state board of education.
Some other suburban school systems have been seeking the state funding as well.
Last week, the Barrington Area Unit District 220 board decided to pursue the maximum $50,000 grant to go toward an all-gender, handicapped-accessible restroom on the lower level of Sunny Hill Elementary School in Carpentersville. Construction and related work on the Sunny Hill bathroom is projected at $100,000, according to District 220.
St. Charles Unit District 303 officials planned to seek $50,000 in grant funds to apply toward a new $200,000 fire alarm system at the former Haines Middle School in the city. Construction has started to repurpose Haines for use by various community agencies and District 303 programs.