The good news is the Selma City School Systems has received preliminary notification the state will allow a $20 million loan, interest free, to build a new high school.

Gov. Bob Riley will make the announcement later this week as to the 45 or so school systems which will receive the money.

The dollars are part of a stimulus package that allows the state to loan money for building programs interest free. They’re called quality school construction bonds.

Whether Selma gets the money is contingent on its ability to pay back the money. It appears the city school system will have that payback ability.

Then the time will come to build a high school.

Schools are the cornerstone of any community. Perhaps if the brick and mortar foundation is there and the leadership proves effective, more diversity will appear in classrooms — at least this is the hope and expectation of schools Superintendent Dr. Austin Obasohan.

Schools are the core of a community in various ways. The buildings house learning — teachers and students. Ideas are given life in those classrooms. Minds are shaped and molded.

That is one of the reasons a new high school is so important to Selma. All of us working shoulder-to-shoulder, picking up one another as we fail; or applauding one when the objective is reached, whatever that might be.