Applications for the expenditure of funds to the credit of any school district in the state public school building fund shall originate with the school board of the school district entitled to such funds. Before any funds to the credit of a school district shall be expended for capital improvements or the retirement of outstanding bonded indebtedness, the school board of such school district shall prepare and submit an application in such form as may be prescribed by the commission. There shall be included with such application a statement in which there is set forth the enrollment and average daily attendance in the schools of the district divided as to schools and grades, the number of teachers employed, the facilities in use, the facilities to be provided with the funds to be expended, the outstanding school indebtedness, and such other information as the commission may require. Such application and statement shall be submitted directly to the commission and approved or disapproved by it. The decision of the commission shall be final, unless an appeal to the chancery court shall be taken in the manner provided by law. In the event any application shall be disapproved by the commission, the school board submitting same shall be notified of such disapproval, which notice of disapproval shall be accompanied by a statement of the reason or reasons for such disapproval.

The commission shall approve only those applications which are found to be proper under the provisions of this chapter and the applicable rules and regulations of the commission. When an application is approved for the expenditure of funds for capital improvements, the contract for the construction of such capital improvements shall be entered into and awarded by the school board of the school district in the manner provided in this chapter; however, the contract for construction of a secondary vocational and technical training center for exclusive use and operation by a school district may be entered into and awarded by the board of trustees of a junior college district where a grant of federal funds by the Appalachian Commission has been made to the board of trustees of such junior college district to assist in financing construction of such secondary vocational and technical training facility for such school district.