URBANA — Taxpayers may be paying for a planned early childhood center and addition to Prairie Elementary School until Jan. 1, 2029, under a proposal being considered by the Urbana school board.

The early childhood center would be built east of Prairie Elementary School, according to Ota Dossett, director of facilities services.

The new center would connect to the school through a new gymnasium, Dossett said, and the project would also include the construction of a lunchroom and activity room.

School board President John Dimit said a portion of the building would be available for community use.

Anne Noble, senior vice present/managing director of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., presented two funding options for the project at Tuesday's school board meeting.

Both call for paying for the project through a combination of sales-tax revenue bonds and working-cash bonds.

Noble said this is a good time for the school district to borrow money because interest rates are low.

Under one option, the district would use sales-tax revenue bonds to borrow $4.35 million at 4.65 percent interest for 17 years and would use working-cash bonds to borrow $11.39 million at 4.8 percent interest for 18 years.

A second option, favored by school board members during a straw poll at Tuesday's meeting, allows the working-cash bonds for the project to be paid off two years earlier.

Under that option, the district would use sales-tax revenue bonds to borrow $5.18 million at 5.06 percent interest for 18 years and would use working-cash bonds to borrow $10.57 million at 4.61 percent interest for 16 years.

Noble said district officials will meet with Standard and Poor's representatives next week to review the district's bond credit rating before the bond sale.

The board could then vote on a resolution approving the bond sale at its Sept. 20 meeting.

In other business, Dimit announced that 25 percent of the Urbana High School class of 2011 was admitted to the University of Illinois and that class members received about $750,000 in scholarships.

The board voted 5-0 to raise the pay for substitute teachers by $5 a day.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Gayle Jeffries said the higher pay will enable Urbana schools to be competitive with other school districts in the county.

Substitute teachers will be paid $90 per day for the first 85 days worked in the district and then $95 per day starting with the 86th day, she said.

The board approved the establishment of a baseball program at Urbana Middle School.

"It is imperative for us to start a middle school baseball program in our district to help our high school become more competitive in future years," said Greg Hall, assistant principal and athletic director at Urbana High School.

Superintendent Preston Williams said the next step would be to consider girls' softball at the middle school beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.

"Activities at the middle school are so important," said school board member Elaine Gehrmann.