Wish list approved with 13 new schools
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Workers are nearing completion on the new Winterpock Elementary School. Even though Winterpock and another elementary school in Bermuda District will open this winter, overcrowded schools are expected for many years to come.

The Chesterfield School Board has approved an ambitious public facilities plan of six new elementary schools, four new middle schools and three new high schools for a bond issue tentatively scheduled for a public vote in November of 2012.

However, the plan is really more of a wish list since the county's board of supervisors will likely reduce the number of schools to be built to limit debt service and maintain Chesterfield's AAA bond rating. The amount of school spending and indebtedness is determined by the supervisors. Both the planning commission and the county board will review the plan before a maximum school bond amount is determined several years from now.

According to Kathy Kitchen, assistant superintendent for business and finance, the plan calls for the first elementary school to open in the fall of 2015 at an estimated cost of $27 million. "We'll be waiting to see where the need is greatest before we determine location," she said.

At a projected cost of $97 million, the first high school would open in the fall of 2016. One site under consideration is land proffered by the developers of Branner Station, a planned community of almost 5,000 homes to be built southeast of Chester.

The cost of the six elementary and three high schools at those prices totals $453 million - almost double the 2004 school referendum. That total doesn't include inflation for the later elementary and high schools, the cost of the four middle schools and any renovations to existing schools. There is also about $20 million for the cost overrun of the replacement for Clover Hill High School.

With a projected cost of over $600 million for new schools and renovations, one supervisor is questioning the public facilities plan. "I'm not sure that is realistic," said Midlothian Supervisor Dan Gecker. "We may need to change the thought process. We shouldn't be building new when we're not maintaining what we have."

The school system's Director of Community Relations Debra Marlow said the school system understands that the public facilities plan is reviewed by the planning commission before approval by the county board. "The board [of supervisors] has the final say on our CIP [Capital Improvement Plan]," she explained. Usually leaders of the board of supervisors and school board hammer out the details of the school bond referendum.

Typically, the school system looks for about 30 acres to accommodate an elementary school for 900 students, about 60 acres for a 1,200-student middle school and 70-100 acres for a high school with a capacity of 1,750 students.

According to estimates provided by Cynthia Richardson, the school system's director of planning, in the next 10 years the number of elementary school students in the county will grow by 3,337 students. There will also be 3,251 more middle school students and 1,360 more high school students. "We hope with this new construction, we should be able to eliminate [classroom] trailers," she told the school board.

In 2004, a successful school bond referendum totaling $231.2 million funded five new schools and renovations to 13 existing schools. In addition, the school system used the Public-Private Education Act to pay for the $60 million Cosby High School.

To see the complete public facilities plan, go to www.chesterfieldobserver.com and click on "Special." The plan includes general locations for the proposed new school sites.