Luverne public schools will soon be able to offer better learning environments.

The Public School and College Authority (PSCA) recently awarded a $75,000 grant to the Crenshaw County Board of Education, which Superintendent Kathi L. Wallace plans to use on facility renovations.

"We were extremely proud and pleased," Wallace said. "We have a lot of needs facilities wise. We had asked for the money for roof repairs and stuff like that, so we had gone ahead with as many repairs as we could. We are going to put this money with the rest of the money we get from public school funds and make improvements in all the schools."

Rep. Charles Newton was instrumental in helping the school system receive the funds.

Wallace said the school system has a capital improvement plan in place that consists of 10 to 15 different projects it will be working toward. She said the boys and girls dressing rooms at Luverne High School are in dire need of remodeling and is one of the first projects on the system's agenda.

"That's a project that will cost a lot of money and we're going to try tackle this next year," Wallace said. "I don't think we have any roofs we need to do this year, but we have some facilities improvements at Brantley, Highland Home and Luverne that we're going to tackle this year."

Wallace expressed concerns for other schools as well when she requested money from the PSCA on Jan. 7, 2004.

"One of the things I had listed on the request is that we need lots of doors replaced at all the schools," Wallace said. "I think I requested about $25,000 to replace doors at all three campus'. At Brantley, they are in desperate need of dry storage space in the cafeteria. They need a whole new freezer, so it's a pretty big project. Of course, we can spend some cafeteria funds with that also, but not a whole lot."

Wallace anticipate that the system will receive about $325,000 by school's end, which will include the money from the PSCA and funds received through the State Department of Education Foundation Fund.

Wallace said a majority of the money received this year would be used for renovations.

"We have old facilities and I don't foresee in the near future us building a new school or new buildings," Wallace said. "So we're all the time trying to upgrade the facilities. The way the students view their surroundings is important. If you've got rundown stuff and all, then a lot of times that's the way people treat what goes on in learning."