New SJC schools (Golf: sales, purchase, construction)

[Lisa259]

Just came across this interesting bit of news.....


"The St. Johns County School Board gave a nod to plans to build three new schools in time for the 2017-18 school year, two funded with revenue from the 1/2-cent sales tax increase passed in November.

District officials called the timeline for borrowing money and building new schools a tight but necessary schedule in order to keep pace with growth.

“Now that the sales tax is passed, we have to move deliberately on several items,” Superintendent Joe Joyner said.

The board supported moving ahead with the plan, but is expected to consider financing plans in January.

The plan outlined at the board workshop on Tuesday morning calls for one new elementary and one new K-8 school to be funded through the sales tax with construction money being borrowed in advance, according to a district presentation. Another K-8 school already in the district’s five-year work plan would be built using impact fees and school concurrency proportionate share mitigation dollars.

One of the K-8 schools would be built in the Nocatee community, while the other will be built in the northwest part of the county in the Aberdeen area; the new elementary school would go up in the World Golf Village area. The district described the locations as areas with critical need.

The process will be helped by using prototype designs already used for other schools in the district, with some tweaks.

Under the proposed timeline, construction is expected to begin in May, with the schools opening for the 2017-18 school year. An expansion at Allen D. Nease High School is expected to be finished for the same school year.

To build the schools, the district plans to borrow about $52 million in advance construction funds for one K-8 school and one elementary school. The borrowing is being done in anticipation of sales tax revenue that will pay the debt service of about $6.5 million each year.

“As we stand here today, we’re two schools behind. ... Accelerating those construction costs we believe is a good idea to do,” said Michael Degutis, chief financial officer for the district.

The sales tax is expected to bring in about $13 million in the first year and gradually increase after that.

The 1/2-cent sales tax increase, which was approved by county voters in November and will be in effect on Jan. 1, is expected to bring in close to $150 million over the tax’s 10-year lifespan.

The rush to get the schools built comes from rapid growth and reduced capital funding, a story the school district told repeatedly leading up to the sales tax vote.

The tax revenue can be spent on school construction and upgrades, and enhancements for technology, security and safety. The tax will help meet the demand placed on the county by growth.

County schools have grown by 10,473 students in the last decade. In the next decade, the district expects 15,813 more students and sees a need for 20 more schools."

[snuffybear]

Sweeett! Thanks for sharing Lisa!

[Giants6]

It will be interesting to the see zoning maps that the school district comes up with once these schools are ready to open. As someone who lives in an area of the county that has kids in one of the recently opened schools that is now over capacity, I would think that my kids and/or some of their classmates will be impacted, if not in 2017 then certainly at some point down the road.

Seeing that the plan is to open 20 schools in the next decade I have a feeling that my kids will be the "inaugural students" for 4 different k-8's and 2 different high schools by the time they graduate. I guess that means I'm going to get hit up by 6 different PTO's to purchase a plaque with my kids names engraved commemorating the first class EVER at XXX school.