Annual Update to Long Range Facilities Plan and Capital Improvement Program
Includes Additional Elementary Classrooms near Downtown Greenville, Date for Fountain Inn High and Renovations to Roper Mountain Science Center
The Board of Trustees gave tentative approval during its Committee of the Whole meeting to the annual update of the Long Range Facilities Plan and Capital Improvement Program. The plan includes previously approved projects, additional elementary classrooms in or near downtown Greenville, an opening date of August 2021 for Fountain Inn High School, and renovations to the Harrison Hall of Natural Science at Roper Mountain Science Center. The updated plan is scheduled to be considered for final approval by the Board of Trustees during their Tuesday evening, February 24 meeting.
Projects approved in previous plans to be completed by 2019 are: J.L. Mann High Academy classroom addition, Sara Collins Elementary classroom addition, and Rudolph Gordon Elementary classroom addition and conversion to a kindergarten through eighth grade school.
The plan, which is updated each year and subject to change, also includes projected new and expanded schools for 2020 and after, including additions at Ellen Woodside, Fork Shoals, Mountain View, Robert E. Cashion and Simpsonville at Morton elementary schools, addition at Ralph Chandler Middle School, a new middle school in the northern area of the county, and a new elementary school on the old J.L. Mann High site.
Approval of the plan would include use of $5.4 million from the fund balance of the General Fund to pay one-time costs for technology, equipment, fixtures, and furniture for four projects: Rudolph Gordon K-8 addition, J.L. Mann High Academy addition, Fountain Inn High, and the additional elementary classrooms in or near downtown Greenville. No debt service millage increase is projected for either fall 2015 or 2016. A possible millage increase for debt service is projected for fall 2017.
The Long Range Facilities Plan and Capital Improvement Program provides for construction of additional schools to meet growth, renovation projects to extend the useful life of facilities, modifications to schools to accommodate academic changes, and maintenance of facilities.
The 2015 edition of the plan reflects the most recent student demographics, including growth pattern changes among schools. The school system’s student population growth is district-wide with concentration in and around the City of Greenville, including the west side of the county. This represents a shift from pre-recession growth and follows the national trend for a growing urban population.