The school leaders said in a Dec. 13 review meeting about $24 million of the additional money may need to be fundraised. About $9 million of the budget is from federal COVID-19 dollars, which the state approved for spending.
David Lawrence, the business manager for Dayton Public Schools, said the additional funding was to pay for the next phase of the project.
Dayton Public Schools are renovating Welcome Stadium from top to bottom. Upgrades to plumbing, field turf, the press box and more are expected. The most recent revamp was a $3 million project in 2008.
The city and the district have said they hope the upgrades make Welcome Stadium a place to bring large sporting events again, as the stadium was in the past.
Welcome Stadium at the turn of the century hosted the state high school track and field meet for multiple years after the track at Ohio Stadium in Columbus was removed.
Board member Dion Sampson asked the board why the money needed to be approved now, as he thought the project was going to be done in phases.
Will Smith, the board president who is also on the Welcome Stadium committee with Skanska USA and Shook Construction, who are overseeing the project, said the plan to do things in phases is still in place, but the time to do these improvements has come.
“That is still the plan, to do those phases that we’ve talked about,” Smith said.
He added that some of the work has been pushed off to make sure it can be done properly.
Board member Jocelyn Rhynard asked if Shook or Skanska could do an update on the construction on Welcome Stadium and how it’s going. The district expects to hold that update early next year.
The district said last week the track and field have been completely replaced, the bleachers have been upgraded and wheelchair-accessible seats have been installed. The next phase of work, focused on plumbing, is now scheduled to begin.
Welcome Stadium first opened in 1949 and University of Dayton’s football team plays on the same field.
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