Cambria County state Rep. Frank Burns has announced a $178,500 state grant to replace the 49-year-old gym floor at Bishop McCort High School, marking a major upgrade for the school’s athletic facilities.

The current floor, according to school officials, has suffered years of wear and damage. Splintered boards and makeshift repairs — with planks regularly being screwed or bolted down — have become a maintenance challenge and safety concern.

“We don’t get much public funding, and this project is going to have a major impact on thousands of kids,” said Tom Smith, Bishop McCort principal and chief administrative officer. “The existing floor has been sanded and repainted so many times that it’s beyond repair. This will be the last season we can safely play on it.”

The high school, home to more than 650 students, also serves as a gathering place for hundreds of youth athletic events each year. The push to replace the deteriorating floor began after Rep. Burns personally visited the gym to inspect the damage.

“Frank came down, took the time to walk the floor with me,” Smith recalled. “He looked at the splintering and said, ‘Tom, you’re absolutely right. It’s bad.’”

Because Bishop McCort is a private school, it typically doesn’t qualify for most types of state funding. Rep. Burns, however, directed the school to apply for a Local Share Account grant — one of the few sources available to private institutions.

“Frank helped us out tremendously. We didn’t even know about those grants,” Smith said. “We worked diligently on the application, were awarded the funding, and now we’ll have a brand-new gym floor ready or the next school year.”

Without the grant, Smith added, replacing the flooring would have been a major financial hurdle for the school.