Columbia Public Schools talks spending on capital projects with increases in enrollment
The Columbia Public Schools Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee and the district’s Finance Committee met tonight at the Aslin Administrative Building.
The committees, which operate under the Columbia Board of Education, talked about all of the capital projects included in the 2019-2020 budget.
One of the projects is the new middle school on Sinclair Road in southwest Columbia. The project to build the school is budgeted at $20 million of the nearly $60 million capital budget for 2019-2020. CPS Chief Operations Officer, Randy Gooch, said that this project is on its target timeline.
District enrollment is continuing to increase, officials said. Heather McArthur, the Chief Financial Officer for CPS, said the need for expansion does not stop with the new middle school.
“As those students are pushing into the middle school, our kindergarten class size looks to be large again this year,” McArthur said. “The next scenario on our long-range facilities planning for the next ten years was going to be an additional wing on Battle Elementary, and that would house an additional 200 students at that school.”
The continued need for expansion brings with it more capital projects. At the meeting, the group discussed the need for more money in the coming years to pay for two major areas of projects in the district: expanding to keep up with hikes in enrollment and improving existing facilities that have critical needs. Getting these projects funded will likely start with a $15 million bond authorization on the ballot next spring.
“That would include about three to four million for the addition onto Battle Elementary and then the rest will be allocated for older, critical facility needs on those other older buildings,” McArthur said.
The new middle school is being built at 5550 S. Sinclair Road in Columbia. The district is planning to open the school in 2020.
