Douglas School District to be considered for $15 million federal aid

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The Douglas School District in Box Elder may be in line to receive federal money, following the National Defense Authorization Act that has been pushed forward by the Senate Armed Services Committee and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds.

Rounds pushed the act through in hopes of benefiting South Dakota economically, but also federally fund construction related to the bed-down of the B-21 Raider bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Douglas School District is among those of districts that could receive the funding. Douglas receives funding because it is a federally impacted district, meaning they do not receive as much local tax revenue as public schools outside of federal property.

Now, the school district has been chosen to apply for $15 million in Federal Impact Aid. If chosen for the aid, the money would help prepare the school for the influx of students that are anticipated because of the mission change at Ellsworth. The funding would go toward a new building, and to support the military families that send their kids to Douglas schools.

“Our focus right now is really preparing for this influx of students that are going to be coming as a result of the B-21 mission and so we know that we do need new buildings. We are at capacity at all of our buildings except for the high school. We going to need to make space for more kids. We have been looking for quite some time at what it would cost to build new buildings. Of course, in 2022, a new school is far more than $15 million,” says Douglas Schools’ communications coordinator Katy Urban.