School Board Continues Capital Improvement Plan Discussions
May 2, 2006-- At today’s Committee of the Whole meeting, staff presented a summary of revisions that the Board of Education has made to the draft capital improvement plan. The bottom-line total has changed from approximately $994 million to $997 million as a result of a few changes. The school board will continue refining the draft plan leading up to the final vote on May 16. Tomorrow morning, the Board of Education will share its current revisions with county commissioners at a joint meeting.
The school board reduced the total funding request for new schools and crowding solutions from $676 million in the prior draft to $640 million by doing the following:
- Eliminating the need for a swing space elementary school (a school built new and utilized as temporary housing while the existing school is being renovated),
- Using a smaller school model for the new Wendell Middle School (981-capacity traditional or 1293-capacity year-round), and
- Adding permanent seats at Cary High School instead of building a separate ninth-grade center in modulars or a leased facility.
Increases to the new school section include adjusting the cost for two high schools, correcting a math error and adding design costs for a future elementary school.
The school board increased its funding request for existing school projects from $318 million to $356 million due to the following:
- Adding the first portion of Cary High School’s addition project to provide capacity (as stated above),
- Adding a portion of Enloe High School’s PLAN 2004 deferred project, and
- Correcting a math error in the amount needed for life-cycle replacement of furniture and equipment in existing schools.
Reductions to the existing school section include using East Garner Elementary as swing space for Aversboro Elementary during its renovation project and reducing the amount of space needed for the child nutrition warehouse.