They're common struggles for schools across KELOLAND. Either it's a battle to keep up with growing enrollment or a fight to keep aging buildings safe for students.  But that's no longer the case for 13 South Dakota districts. They've been selected to receive millions of dollars in interest-free stimulus loans for renovations and construction.

With 60 new students in just two years, the Wolsey-Wessington School is in need of a new gym and five new classrooms. The plans have been in the works and thanks to the interest free stimulus loan, the district expects to save $1.5 million.

With school out for the summer, Wolsey-Wessington is preparing to serve up to 270 students next year. Its building wasn't made for those numbers.

"We're adding three brand new positions,” superintendent James Cutshaw said. “I don't have classrooms for any of those three teachers right now so they're going to share with someone else."

That's a big reason administrators like Cutshaw are anxious to see the expansion plans break ground.

Right now, the school is doing different things to get by with its limited space until the new construction is done. When it is, a middle school addition on the east end of the building will add five classrooms. And a new gym should be going up on school grounds.

The district started looking at plans last summer. The option for federal help came just in time.

"We would literally have had to cut some of our plans. I mean, we would take two classrooms out of what we would add for the middle school and then take a lot of the amenities out of the gym," Cutshaw said.

The district hopes to break ground on the $3 million plan in October and have a finished project the following fall. The expanded building should be able to hold about 320 students.

The district is holding public meetings in both Wolsey and Wessington at the end of the month.