GENEVA – The Geneva District 304 school board Monday approved spending $40,000 to replace the Burgess Field scoreboard a year earlier than planned.

The scoreboard replacement was listed in the second year of the seven-year capital plan, 2024-25 for $200,000, documents show. Now it’s bumped up to the next school year, 2023-24 at less cost.

Board President Larry Cabeen said he, as then- vice president, and former board president Michael McCormick, rejected the original proposal as too expensive.

“Initially they wanted a scoreboard with TV screens like you get at the Super Bowl,” Cabeen said. “We said we could help you with that and have the parents do fundraisers, but they decided it was not worth it.”

The current scoreboard was installed in the 1990s and needs constant repair, Cabeen said.

“The scoreboard is about 20 years old and we can’t get parts for it anymore,” Cabeen said. “So we are just replacing it, like for like. We’re not doing the big color TV or anything like that.”

The scoreboard replacement still has to go out for bid, and it might not be ready by next fall, Cabeen said.