School officials have announced that they didn’t receive a state funding request to construct athletic facilities at the new Montezuma-Cortez High School.
In a weekly report dated Jan. 9, Re-1 Superintendent Alex Carter said the district was disappointed to discover that funding from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs wasn’t approved to complete the new M-CHS stadium project.
“We are going back to the drawing board to determine how we can best provide our students with a high-quality athletic competition complex,” Carter wrote.
Construction of the $33.7 million new high school started last year. The new two-story 152,500 square-foot schoolhouse is expected to open on a 35-acre site behind Walmart this fall.
Last January, Carter announced that district officials would apply for a $3.6 million Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant to fund the new stadium. The GOCO program is funded through lottery proceeds to promote outdoor recreation.
The school district currently has $1.8 million on hand to build athletic facilities.
A Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant is financing 54 percent of the cost of the school’s construction, and a local bond is financing the rest. Neither funding mechanism included costs to build a stadium.
Within the next three weeks at the school site, construction officials estimate that window frames and glass will be installed, roof drain piping and interior wall framing will be completed, and permanent power to the building will exist.
The current Montezuma-Cortez High School serves approximately 650 students. The new larger school is designed to accommodate 725 students.
This week’s regularly scheduled school board meeting was delayed until Jan. 27.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com