Hillsboro school board earmarks $200,000 for new athletic complex

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education has voted to approve $200,000 of permanent improvement funds to be earmarked for the construction of a new track facility near the new Hillsboro High School/Middle School.

Hillsboro Superintendent Rick Earley recommended during the board's March meeting Wednesday that the funds be earmarked to go toward the estimated $780,000 that would include a stadium, lights, track, soccer field, field house, restrooms and locker rooms. The construction of just a track is approximately $400,000, Earley said. 

The district put the project out for bids last year to gauge how much such a project would cost. 

District Treasurer Debbie Lawwell said that permanent improvement funds must go toward capital improvements that will last more than five years. There currently is an estimated $930,000 in the capital improvement fund, she said. 

Earley said that not everything will be completed at once and that the proposed drawing of the stadium area shows what would happen should the district have to move all sports fields, including football, soccer, baseball and softball, along with the existing tennis courts. 

"That shows what could happen if we ever needed to move everything. We're not doing that," Earley said. 

During the board meeting, board member Jerry Walker said that there were 160 track and field athletes at Hillsboro, which is "roughly 10 percent of the student population. It is great that we're creating a facility for these athletes." 

The current Hillsboro track is not in the type of condition where the school can host invitational meets, Earley said, and as a Division II school, that is something they need to do.

When the track portion is completed, Earley said that it would include everything needed to hold a track meet, including the field events.

"It is important we show that we're invested in this," Earley said. "We can't pay for it out of the general fund." 

There is currently no time frame for how long the athletic facility would take to construct, or when ground might be broken. Raising the additional funds will most likely be the next phase. 

"These are permanent improvement funds," Earley said. "We're not taking anything from operating funds. Permanent improvement has to be invested in technology, buses, things that will last at least five years."

Board members voted 5-0 to earmark the $200,00 to go toward the track facility. 

The board also voted to earmark $92,802 in capital improvement funds to go toward technology that assists in the preschool programs and special needs classrooms. 

Board member Terry Britton said they will be out in the community asking for support. 

Earley said that Hillsboro is an active community and already people utilize the high school/middle school grounds to walk and exercise, and he wants the public to know the athletic facility would be open to them as well.