Monday, the state School Building Authority approved funding for projects in 17 West Virginia counties.

The money will be used for school construction and improvements.

Total requests came in at $270-million but SBA members were only able to dole out $97-million.

Putnam County ended up one of the big winners.

The S-B-A delegated $22 million over the next two years to projects all over the county including one that would virtually replace Winfield Middle School.

Winfield Middle's Principal says the outdated and overcrowded school is causing health hazards and a poor learning environment.

And with two-thirds of the student body in portable classrooms, school spirit is significantly diminished. "We have health issues with students carrying dirt back and forth into their classrooms of course the dust and the dirt in the classrooms creates health problems

"It's like two different worlds and they never come together. It's those kids and us kids and we don't have that unity that we would have if we were in one facility. It could be Winfield Middle instead of out there and in here," said Clarence Woodworth, Principal at Winfield Middle.

The decision by the SBA could make that vision a reality.

"We thought it was an excellent project and in fact it was the highest rated project," said SBA Executive Director Mark Manchin.

However, Putnam County residents will have the final say on whether projects like the one at Winfield Middle will move forward.

Voters will take up a $55 million bond issue later this year.

In the meantime, Principal Woodworth has his fingers crossed that the community will come through.

"I want people to realize how important to it is to the students, to their children, grandchildren, how important it is to education of the child in Putnam County," he said.

Putnam is one of three counties that received funding contingent upon a bond election.

If the bond issue should fail, those counties would not receive any money from the SBA and the funds would then go toward other projects around the state.

Meanwhile, West Virginia's largest county was left off the SBA's funding list.

The Kanawha County Board of Education requested $100,000 to come up with a potential design for a second new school on Charleston's west side.

The proposed facility would replaced J.E. Robins and Watts Elementary schools.

However, SBA members urged county school officials to come up with a plan for flood-prone Bonham Elementary beforehand and to submit a request next year.

Also, Cabell County received $100,000 to help with the planning and design of a new Middle School in Huntington.

The School Building Authority committed to giving Cabell $19 million during the next two funding cycles if the county can secure a site for the new facility.

The funds would be used to build the school that will serve the current Enslow and Beverly Hills districts.