UVALDE, Texas – The Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation received a $10 million donation Tuesday for a new elementary school.
In addition to the donation, the Kate Marmion Charitable Foundation will match another $5 million in donations.
“The goal of the matching grant is to try to help finish up the donation and encourage further donations for people across the state and nation,” said DB Briscoe IV, president of the Kate Marmion Charitable Foundation.
The organization is named after Briscoe’s cousin, a Uvalde CISD graduate.
The district said in a press release that the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation has raised more than 80% of the funds needed to complete the school, which will replace Robb Elementary , where 19 students and two teachers were shot and killed in May 2022.
The centerpiece of the new school will be a tree paying tribute to the students and teachers killed.
“That’s the main thing,” said Tim Miller, executive director of the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation. “Throughout the building there’ll be images of honeybees, rays of light and trickles of water and butterflies. Many of those will be in amounts of 21.”
Construction, which started in February, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025 at a cost of $60 million.
Last month, Miller said the foundation still needed to raise $20 million. This new donation helps close the gap.
The school will be located near Vickers Lane and Leona Road, next to Dalton Elementary School.
While it does not yet have a name, Uvalde CISD superintendent Ashely Chohlis said the board will vote on a committee’s recommendation in the next two months.
You can watch a news conference of the donation announcement below: