Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood — The Ironwood Area Schools provided information at a special meeting Thursday on several federal grants the district is seeking.
The district applied for a total of four U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grants last month, according to Ironwood superintendent Travis Powell, but two of the grants are identical. USDA Rural Development will fund up to 55% of any successful applications, with the district paying the remaining costs.
“The way that the grant is set up … they will spend a maximum of $50,000 and that has to be 55% or less of the (project’s cost),” Powell said during the meeting.
The first project will seek to purchase 422 Chromebooks and 25 charging stations, which would put the district close to its goal of providing every student their own Chromebook. The district is applying for a $50,000 grant to help fund the project, which is expected to cost a total of $91,093.
The district is also also seeking two grants to purchase new school buses to improve the district’s bus fleet.
The district’s millage, which was passed in the August 2018 election, authorized funds for approximately five buses and the two grants would allow the district to extend the bond money further.
The district purchased two new buses prior to the start of the school year with bond funds, and plans to purchase the remaining buses over the life of the bond. Powell said the district plans to purchase at least one bus this year, regardless of whether it is awarded the grants.
Based on the $81,332 cost per bus for the two already purchased, each of the two grant applications seeks $44,700 in federal funds to purchase a bus.
The fourth grant is designed to improve communication between the district’s buses and the school.
Although the district is seeking a $8,000 grant for the $15,581 project, Powell said the project may cost less depending on what equipment the district already has.
If the project does cause less, Powell said USDA Rural Development will pay 55% of whatever the lower cost is.
Gogebic County is one of three counties in Michigan where municipal entities and other qualifying organizations are eligible to apply for the funds, according to a USDA news release, which are available through the USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities Program. A total of $150 million is available for communities around the country where the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a disaster declaration in 2018, according to the release. Over 100 types of projects are eligible for funding, according to the release.
The three Upper Peninsula counties — Gogebic, Houghton and Menominee counties — qualify through the Aug. 2, 2018 disaster declaration regarding the June 16-18 storms that caused flooding around the region.
The district hopes to hear about whether any of its grant applications once all its paperwork is processed in the coming months.