Dillon County gets nearly $40 million USDA loan for education

DILLON — Dillon County will receive a $35.8 million loan and a $4 million grant to improve education in the county as part of a $140 million investment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The funds are coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for use in 14 community facilities projects in rural areas across the country. Those projects include hospitals, schools and fire departments in 11 states.

The Dillon County School Facilities Corp. will use the funds it received will be used to construct two new schools and renovate two existing school facilities in the county.

Dillon School District 2 Superintendent Dr. Ray Rogers said about $25 million of that will go toward construction of a new Dillon Middle School to replace J.V. Martin Junior High School. Portions of J.V. Martin are more than a century old, and structural issues, heating and air conditioning problems and the nearby location of a busy railroad track, forced the school into the spotlight as part of the “Corridor of Shame.”

Rogers said he and other school district officials worked for several years to secure funding to build a new school, but ran into roadblocks.

“People in our community passed the 1-cent referendum, but because of the economy it has been very difficult to get banks to extend loans for more than 20 years,” he said.
Rogers said he knew for more than a month the government would be extending the funding, but remained quiet on the issue until the formal announcement was made. He said it is the culmination of years of work and effort and hopes it will serve as a turning point for students in Dillon County.

“We’re elated. We know what this means for Dillon County and all three school districts and we’re very excited, and we know now that the hard work and the dedication that people who worked for the bond referendum put in is going to come to fruition,” he said.

Rogers said portions of the funding will be used to construct Dillon Middle on the campus of Dillon High School, while other funds would go to the Dillon School District 1, based in Lake View, and Dillon School District 3, based in Latta.

Rogers said the district, along with the federal government, is putting safeguards in place to ensure proper accountability of the funds.

“This is federal loans, and when you’ve got federal loans they will have their own people here also tracking it,” he said. “The county board is the one that will be handling all the funds. There will be three different outfits that oversee the construction … I feel like it will be watched very closely.”

The district has been thrust into the national spotlight on several occasions, including a visit from President Obama himself, and the mention of J.V. Martin in a presidential speech. Former student Ty’Sheoma Bethea also helped shed light on the plight of the district when she wrote to the president, and was even asked to attend an event in Washington.

Rogers said he acknowledges that construction of the new school would not have been possible in the near future, were it not for the national attention and federal funding.

“Do I think there has been helping hands all the way up to Washington? Yes, there’s no doubt in mind that someone, somewhere, has said these people need a helping hand,” he said.

Many parents of students at J.V. Martin said they were excited to hear the news of the federal funding — not only for their children’s sake, but also for the generations that have yet to pass through the halls of the school.

Cynthia Thomas has an eighth-grader at J.V. Martin and another child who already attended the school. She said the problems caused by the the structure ,“the drafts and the cold in the winter, and no air in the summertime in the gymnasium … and also the train distractions, the lack of materials that they could use for educational purposes,” often led to distraction.

Thomas said she feels a new outlook for students and teachers alike will come with the construction of a new school.

“I was excited, because then it leaves them no excuse not to learn. I think I was very excited for the students and the teachers … it will give them a boost to know that they’re helping kids to get to a better level than maybe they were last year, just little things make a world of difference,” she said.

Rogers said he hopes to break ground on Dillon Middle by May and hopes that the construction of the school can be complete within the next two years.

He said the district will continue to fight for grants and other sources of funding to improve the lives of students in Dillon County.