Vote to approve school CIP plan won’t be unanimous

Rajah The Chesterfield School Board has long been known for its unanimous votes on important issues, but one member is going rogue this week.

At press time, Matoaca School Board member Omarh Rajah planned to vote against the $138.4 million Capital Improvements Plan for FY12 (July 1, 2011) through FY16 (June 30, 2016) because he doesn’t agree with building new gyms at Midlothian and Monacan high schools. Those gyms are estimated to cost $5.1 million each.

“We have more pressing needs in the county than two new gyms,” Rajah said.

The annual debt service on those gyms is estimated at $900,000 over 20 years. Paying the debt comes out of the school’s operating budget – the one that was cut significantly enough last year to cause teacher and staff layoffs. Rajah feels that money could be better spent hiring and retaining teachers.

In addition to the gyms, the CIP includes about $16 million in other improvements at Midlothian and Monacan, including renovating the main offices at each school and adding/ upgrading classroom space.

Pettitt Proponents of the CIP have pointed out that the Midlothian gym project was part of the school bond referendum approved overwhelmingly by county voters in 2004. The Monacan gym wasn’t included in the referendum, but supporters argue a new gym is needed so it’s consistent with other county high schools.

Rajah disputes the equity issue, saying Matoaca Elementary School is almost 80 years old and doesn’t have a gym. That school is in his district while Midlothian High is in the Midlothian District and Monacan High is in the Clover Hill District.

Responding by e-mail, Clover Hill School Board member Dianne Pettitt wrote, “The projects at Monacan and Midlothian will provide office renovations (and security enhancements), science and fine arts classrooms, as well as the gymnasiums. Since all other high schools have the second gym, this will bring those two schools up to our standards. These improvements will allow additional space for extracurricular activities… and eliminate the need for 6 a.m. or 10 p.m. practice times. Neither of these two times is optimum for students to give their best attention to their studies. At the same time, it will put these students on equal footing with their peers at other schools who already have these opportunities.”

The countywide comprehensive plan – still under review but expected to be adopted by year’s end – also provides impetus for school board action, according to Rajah. When any school exceeds its capacity by up to 10 percent, the school board is supposed to redistrict if there is a “long-term” problem. If a school is 10 percent to 20 percent over capacity, then redistricting or expanding capacity is to be considered. Constructing a new school becomes an additional option when a school is over 120 percent of its capacity. Typically, the more over capacity a school is, the more costly the remedy. Rajah wants the school system to save the money from the proposed gyms to deal with overcrowding.

“When a school is over 120 percent of capacity, the plan calls for immediate action to rectify overcrowding,” explained Steve Haasch, a principal planner in the county planning department.

Last September three Chesterfield schools – Watkins Elementary School (134 percent of capacity), Robious Middle School (122 percent) and Cosby High School (130 percent) – were above that threshold. An addition is currently under construction at Robious, and the CIP includes an addition at Watkins. Cosby is not included in the CIP at this time.

The school board was expected to vote on the CIP Tuesday night (Jan. 11). After approval, it will be forwarded to county supervisors for consideration.

The board of supervisors will approve funding for the school CIP this April. Supervisors don’t have a line item veto and can’t specifically strike any particular projects. So if, for example, the county board cut funding from the CIP targeting those gyms, the school board could reallocate its funding and build those gyms anyway.

Two of the five supervisors – Jim Holland (Dale District) and Marlene Durfee (Matoaca District) – have questioned funding the gyms.

The CIP currently allocates $65 million for renovations and additions; $43.2 million on major maintenance and HVAC; $27.7 million on technology and $2.5 million on energy and security. A bond referendum, previously penciled in for November 2012, is not being discussed anymore. The county’s financial condition – and possibly the public’s mood – wouldn’t support it.