Lehighton Area School District could have over a half-million dollars to apply toward its proposed multipurpose sports stadium.

Business administrator Brian Feick told the school board at a finance committee meeting Tuesday that there is $625,478 left over in the district's Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust account.Feick said there was a resolution passed by a previous group of school board members on Nov. 25, 2002, that designated the money to "undertake a capital project consisting of design, acquisition and construction of a track and related athletic facilities."At that time, Feick said there was $525,000 in the account."This money has to be put into the (district's) capital fund; it can't stay in the general fund," Feick said. "I'm suggesting we put this into capital projects for athletics or renovations pertaining to athletics."Director William Hill Jr. was visibly upset."It's not funny; it's a disgrace," Hill said. "We could have used it for the middle school gym."Director Gloria Bowman noted that at least the district made a little bit of interest.Regardless, Director Hal Resh sought answers."Does anybody know how this happened? All the money we spent for the baseball fields ..."Feick said the district was planning to use the fund balance, and that this amount can now be used toward projects.Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver stressed that the money isn't superfluous."I don't want it to seem like it's extra," Cleaver said. "It's always been there."Several weeks ago, the district received permission to move forward with a proposed $5 million sports stadium, which would be built between the high school and the administration office, near the existing field hockey and track site.It would include new home and visitor grandstands with a seating capacity of 2,500, a new press box, a new field house structure, a new storage and restroom structure, new fencing to provide a secured site, new stadium lighting, a multipurpose turf field, and an ADA-accessible site.The new stadium could take two to three years to complete and would replace the current football stadium at Beaver Run Road and Mahoning Street in Lehighton, which was constructed in 1939-40. The current stadium would remain on the property.In November, the school board approved Barry Isett & Associates Inc. to complete designs for the proposed multipurpose stadium at an estimated cost of $358,000. At that time, the building cost was estimated to be between $4.9 million and $5.6 million.