MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) will receive some support from the City of Morgantown to support renovations at Morgantown High School.
The BOE unanimously approved an agreement with the city to have funds of up to $80,000 be directed towards the Monongalia County School System to support the Morgantown High School Auditorium Renovation project. County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell expressed enthusiasm in the support for what is expected to be a close to $4 million project that is currently going through a fundraising campaign with the Morgantown High Foundation.
“We worked something out with them to help the Morgantown High School Auditorium Project,” said Campbell. “The B&O taxes that will be involved with that project are going to be donated back to Monongalia County Schools by the city.”
According to Campbell, the city approached the county school system to potentially contribute to the Morgantown High Foundation’s fundraising campaign in early March 2025. As part of the agreement, the City of Morgantown will transfer funds paid by the Monongalia County School System as part of City Business and Occupation taxes, which will then be transferred back to the school system for the direct purpose of supporting the renovation of the Morgantown High Auditorium. While no ultimate sum has been finalized, there’s an expectation that the city will contribute in a lump sum once the proper taxes are paid by the county school system.
“They came to us and talked to us about it to try and help out the foundation, so we’ve only been looking at it (the proposal) for about a month, two months,” said Campbell. “This is just another lump sum that is going to go towards getting that renovation project started.”
The proceeds will go towards the Morgantown High Foundation and the campaign towards raising approximately $4 million to support a complete overhaul of the Morgantown High School Auditorium. This will include a near-virtual gutting and remodeling of the interior that hasn’t been in use for close to 20 years as well as making the facility ADA compliant through a renovation of entrances into the seating area and into the facility itself. With the Monongalia County School System already paying the City of Morgantown over $300,000 to support the hosting of events at the Metropolitan Theatre, Campbell and the Monongalia County BOE are ready to finally make the Morgantown High Auditorium usable again.
“It’ll be a complete overhaul, if you haven’t been in that auditorium, it’s unusable right now, it’s a major project,” said Campbell.
The agreement between the City of Morgantown and the Monongalia County BOE is not the only one that has been made in recent months towards supporting the multi-million dollar overhaul of the Morgantown High School Auditorium. Since an official campaign push was announced in late 2024, the Monongalia County BOE approved a commitment of up to $2 million in matching funds with the Morgantown High Foundation currently selling seat sponsorships inside the auditorium for $500 per seat. With more funding sources going towards the project, the Mon County School System hopes that the positive momentum can continue.
“It’ll probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4 million to renovate it, so we’re just thankful that they’re willing to contribute and see the value in it,” said Campbell.