Nestled near Lake Chatuge in the southwestern corner of our great state is a small town in Clay County called Hayesville and they’re celebrating something big this week.
The brand-new Hayesville Primary School opens today to Clay County’s littlest learners. This primary school will serve approximately 25% of the student population in the whole county, grades Pre-K through 2nd.
“Everybody’s excited about it!” said Clay County Superintendent Dale Cole. “Having a brand-new school in a town the size of ours, that’s a big deal.”
It’s been almost 40 years since the last school was built so it goes without saying that everyone’s looking forward to new amenities like a cafeteria, a gymnasium, and playgrounds that are age appropriate for primary school students.
Neater still is the fact that each school will now have their own nurse’s station instead of one office located at the central building. Now, nurses won’t have to travel from school to school with their equipment in tow.
“We probably would not have been able to make it happen without the grant being available from the lottery,” said Cole.
The grant he talks about is the Needs-Based Public-School Construction Fund. It’s a new program, funded exclusively by lottery dollars, that helps small, rural counties with critical building needs to build new schools.
Since its inception, 21 counties have benefitted from the more than $348 million raised. Money raised by the lottery also provides $100 million a year to the Public-School Building Capital Fund to assist all county governments in meeting their school building needs.
Thanks to your play, the lottery continues to contribute to education in our fine state. We love to share the news when schools and students benefit.
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