The county will, however, request a facility needs study from the state Department of Public Instruction, County Manager Tony Brown said this morning.
The needs study will cover all three school systems in the county. A similar study was done in 2008 and the result was Manning Elementary School needed to be replaced.
Weldon disputed the results of that study.
Asked what could change in a report done two years ago, Brown declined comment.
Brown said the county does not have all the bills in to determine how much the mediation session with the school system cost. The county did budget $25,000 for legal expenses.
The county said it couldn’t give Weldon City Schools $1.3 million to pay an architect to design a new high school so both boards went through mediation.
Pattie Cotton, chair of the school board, said in a letter to board of commissioners Chairman James Pierce, the issue centers on the county’s decision to fund the school system with $832,856.
According to the June 24 letter obtained by rrspin.com, $727,625 is for current expense and $105,231 is for capital expense.
Cotton notes in the hand delivered letter the school system requested $3,037,448.14 — $1.3 million for current expense and the remainder for capital outlay. “The funds appropriated by the board of commissioners did not include the requested funds to hire an architect to design a new high school for the students in Weldon.”
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