The word “new” will figure prominently in the coming school year for Fayette area residents. A new school in a new location, a new food service system, new equipment...it’s new everything until you get to athletic facilities. The list has to stop there for now.

As we’ve written in past news accounts, the state funding that’s covering about 80 percent of the construction project cannot be used for outdoor athletic facilities. The district is allowed to use the funds to construct one ball diamond for physical education class, but that’s where it ends. That one diamond could also be used for interscholastic competition, but fencing, bleachers, backstop, dugouts, scoreboard, etc., will need a different funding source.

It’s going to be disappointing to leave the new school and drive back into town to watch games on the old village fields and to know the concept of a home track meet will still not exist. However, that’s the fate of a small school district that isn’t flush with cash.

Board members made the right choice Monday night to follow Superintendent Russ Griggs’s lead: Hire a design firm to make plans for future facilities. Let the professionals examine the property and create the most sensible plan, hopefully avoiding layout mistakes that might otherwise become apparent years down the road.

The athletic boosters group is ready to help with raising cash for facilities, but they need somewhere to begin. The board’s decision will soon give them a place on the starting line for the long run ahead.