Photo cutline: Whitney York, far right, Murray Independent School District assistant superintendent, accepts check from the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative. York is pictured with (left) Gretchen Wetzel, WKEC Executive Director, and David Meinschein, Vice Chairman of the Western Kentucky Educational Cooperative Board of Directors.
.Murray, Ky., Nov. 5, 2024-------The Murray Independent School District was one of ten Western Kentucky school districts to receive grant funding from the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Program Grant from the United States Department of Energy. Murray Independent received $15,000 from the $300,000 grant prize awarded to a team of Western Kentucky school districts led by the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative.
Murray Independent joins these Kentucky awardees selected by their commitment to energy efficiency and innovation in education: Webster County; Union County; Muhlenberg County; Fulton County; Paducah Independent; Livingston County; Henderson County; Christian County; Caldwell County.
The West Kentucky Educational Cooperative was selected as one of The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Selectees and Winners of the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Program Grant. WKEC is one of seven cooperative Local Education Agencies (LEA) in Kentucky which support groups of LEAs for strategic initiatives.
This is the second round of funding from the $500 million Renew America’s Schools Program, which aims to help K-12 schools across the country make energy improvements that: Improve air quality and occupant comfort, creating healthier and safer classrooms that support student learning. Reduce energy use and energy costs, generating sustainable savings that can be redirected towards educational initiatives. Lower emissions, reducing community exposure to pollutants and putting America on a path to a net-zero energy economy by 2020. Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and workforce development, creating a pipeline of employees prepared for a clean energy future.
The West Kentucky Educational Cooperative (WKEC) convened a portfolio of 10 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and fifteen buildings in western Kentucky.
The schools serve as assembly places in more rural areas and occupy over a million square feet. The average age of the school buildings is 65 years old. Four of the districts have already received funding to add fourteen new electric buses to their fleets.
Whitney York, Murray Independent School District assistant superintendent, was on hand to accept the check from the West Kentucky Education Cooperative Team’s presentation. “We are honored to receive this funding to utilize towards energy and facility improvements in our district. Our school buildings are an important part of the Murray community and improving our buildings helps to create better spaces not only for learning and community events, but also helps to conserve energy, funding, and vital resources.”