As students return to school this week at Jones Senior High School in Trenton, they will see a new $46 million campus under construction next door that will soon house new, state-of-the-art classrooms for pre-K-5, middle school, and high school students.

The new campus, scheduled to open a year from now, provides an example of how money raised by the lottery is going to work to help small, rural counties secure the money they need to build new schools. Lottery funds will cover about a third of the costs of the new campus, which will serve 60 percent of the students in the county, from pre-k through 12th grade.

“We have such a small tax base,” said Dr. Michael Bracy, superintendent of Jones County schools. “So we are not able to generate enough money to build and renovate schools. Lottery dollars help offset the shortfall for school construction needs. Without it, this new school wouldn’t be happening, and our students deserve it. They deserve the world.”

The new state-of-the-art school will be truly unique for the county. The 124,000-square-foot building will create a student-centered learning environment, equipped with 21st century technology and be an energy efficient, net-zero building, saving the county money.

The Jones County project is one of four across the state funded through a new program designed to help small, rural counties with critical building needs. Previously, because of its size, Jones County received only about $74,000 a year to help with school construction and repairs. Under the new program, funded exclusively by the lottery, it received $15 million.

By creating that new program, lottery dollars now support school construction in two ways. This year, $217 million of the money raised by the lottery will go to help counties meet their school construction and repair needs. This is an increase of $87 million from last year.

“Small, rural districts are the norm,” said Bracy, “not just in our state, but in our nation. This is now possible in Jones County, and it’s possible in other counties in North Carolina.”

The remaining $100 million will continue to support counties in meeting their public school building needs. Counties have used these monies to purchase land for new schools, to pay fees for planning and design work, for new school construction, to make necessary renovations, and repairs, and to pay for debt service.