The South Central School Board has agreed to sign a 25-year agreement to have solar energy fields installed at all three of its campuses, South Central Elementary and Middle School in Kinmundy and South Central High School in Farina.
Superintendent Kerry Herdes sees big savings in the cost of electricity when the project is completed sometime next year.
“We are excited to get the ball rolling on the solar project. That is a solar array at each site. I think we can save in the neighborhood of 4-cents a KW which equates to $40-50,000 currently which we are hoping that will continue to escalate up and that is at no cost to us.”
Herdes says the contract with Utopian Power would provide power at about 5.5-cents per kilowatt hour compared to their current cost of 9.5-cents through a contract with Constellation Energy.
Ross Calliott with AGE, which is facilitating the deal, says there is still a possibility for renegotiation if there are unforeseen costs in the interconnect agreement with Ameren Illinois. He also told the board they could also face a penalty from Constellation.
“The worst case scenario let’s say they hit you with a $100,000 early termination fee. I suppose if you have to cut that check immediately, you know the time value of money you gave up $100k, you were going to save that over the next 2.5 years but if you had to pay it immediately you would lose that time value of money.”
Calliott encouraged the board to move forward now, noting it’s likely the cost they would pay for solar power would go up and their savings from the installation of the systems would be delayed. The system would still allow South Central to purchase electricity off the grid during heavy usage times.
The South Central School Board has discussed the solar project for nearly two years. They had agreed to work with another company earlier that ended up backing out of the project.
Graduation is set for Sunday afternoon for South Central High School students. There are 39 graduates this year led by Class Valedictorian Eli Stratton and Salutatorian Hailey Shuler.
Herdes reported staff would see a 3.2-percent increase in health insurance costs for the coming year. He feels that is very reasonable. Herdes also noted after a few rocky years financial, the Egyptian School Trust appears to be back on good financial footing.
The board approved the purchase of an outdoor walk in freezer and refrigerator for the elementary building at a cost of $63,000 from Weeke Sales and Service, Inc. Installation and delivery will be done without cost.
In personnel news, the board received a letter of intent to retire from 2nd grade teacher Kelly Lotz at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. The board approved a letter of resignation from high school aid Karrie Davis.
The board hired Kaitlyn Hawkey as a counselor for the elementary and middle school and Betsy O’Leary as a second cook for the elementary building for the next school year.
Several coaches were also appointed. Ean Fox was named head South Central Middle School Basketball Coach, Spencer Johannes as Assistant Coach for high school boys basketball, and Trevor Markley as volunteer assistant coach for the high school basketball team.
