Van Buren Co. School System In Running For Energy Grant

The Van Buren School System has been named a finalist for a TVA School Uplift grant.

The $400,000 grant is meant to improve energy costs through school improvements. Director of Schools Cheryl Cole said if awarded, the funds would be used to transition to LED lighting and replace HVAC systems in Spencer Elementary and Van Buren High School.

“It feels great,” Cole said. “I guess they came back in October during fall break. I spent all of one day with them, and we were everywhere in the school. They checked out a whole lot of things. We have been working on it very hard.

Cole said both schools are in need for replacements since the HVAC systems are nearing 30 years old. The grant winner will be announced on April 14th.

“The high school is about 31 years old,” Cole said, “The elementary school is about 24, and they are aging. (…) HVAC doesn’t last forever, so if it has been in place for about 30 years, we are going to start running into problems, so that is one thing that we want to look at replacing.”

Cole said she has been working with TVA on the grant for about two years. As a part of the application process, TVA has toured each school and has collected utility bills during that time.

“That was the concentration from TVA,” Cole said. “We’ve had to keep up with electric bills, water bills, gas bills, and send them a monthly report to see how it is going. We’ve had to do it the past two years.”

Cole said the school system has applied to another TVA energy grant as a back up plan for funding the project. A total of four school system applied to the School Uplift grant.