Rockingham County Schools is one of ten districts in North Carolina to be awarded a state lottery-funded grant for construction projects.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction gave the district $42 million to build a new Reidsville Elementary School.
The project will consolidate two under-resourced schools built in 1935 and 1963.
At a press conference this week, State Superintendent Mo Green said the grants went to communities that have the hardest time generating local revenue for school construction.
“It's an important step forward in our journey to ensure that zip code does not determine the quality of a child's learning environment," he said.
But officials say there’s still a lot of need, especially amid rising construction costs.
Of the nearly $2 billion in funding requests, the state was only able to fulfill about 20% of that figure.
