The Department of Defense awarded Altus Public Schools a $49.2 million grant Wednesday to build a new elementary school at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
The federal funding represents 80% of the total project cost of $61.5 million for L. Mendel Rivers Elementary School.
The massive investment addresses critical infrastructure needs at a school serving more than 600 military-connected children from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. The facility ranked 55th on the Pentagon’s 2019 priority list for schools with the most serious deficiencies.
The grant is awarded through the Defense Department’s Public Schools on Military Installations Program, which targets schools with urgent capacity and facility needs. The Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation administered the award after extensive federal review.
A multi-agency evaluation team assessed the project proposal to ensure it properly addresses the school’s documented deficiencies. Representatives from the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Local Defense Community Cooperation offices participated in the review process.
Pentagon officials frame the investment as essential for military readiness and retention. Quality schools help bases recruit and keep skilled personnel while strengthening ties between installations and surrounding communities.
The aging L. Mendel Rivers Elementary School has struggled with both overcrowding and deteriorating facilities. The new construction will replace outdated infrastructure while providing modern learning spaces for students whose parents serve at the air base.
Altus Air Force Base hosts the 97th Air Mobility Wing (AMW), which trains aircrew members for C-17, KC-46, and KC-135 aircraft. The installation’s mission makes retention of experienced personnel particularly critical for national defense.
“If our families are taken care of, Airmen can feel free and comfortable doing the mission that they are charged to do,” said Col. Jeff Marshall, former 97th AMW commander.
“We’re very excited that the new building is going to have a storm shelter,” Roe Worbes, Altus Public Schools superintendent, said in a news release. “A cafeteria much larger than this one, a media center that is going to meet all of our needs, and science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms much larger than what we already have.”
The schoolhouse, which is slated for completion within the next two to three years, will be shaped like the U.S. Air Force symbol.