PREPARING A LONG-TERM FACILITIES PLAN The Georgia Department of Education requires each school district to maintain a long-term facilities plan and update it every 5 years. This plan helps school districts to inventory each classroom within the district and document the condition of each school. The facilities’ needs for the district are documented in this plan and determine the amount of state capital outlay funds that are available for the district each year. This plan documents student growth along with available classroom space to help ensure the district has adequate space for each student. This plan also consists of facility improvements, additions, and changes that are anticipated to be made over the course of the next 5 years. Over the past 4 years our enrollment has continued to decline, and as we prepare to make adjustments due to the declining enrollment we also are preparing to update older facilities. In the process of updating these facilities, we plan to build up to four new elementary schools that will either replace existing schools or that will combine two schools into one. The enrollment at most of our elementary schools hovers around 400 to 500 students, and new schools will be built to accommodate 750 students. Therefore, eventually there will be fewer but larger schools, thus increasing the operational efficiency of each school. An option will be presented to the Board soon and seek the Board’s guidance on a plan deemed most feasible for our school system.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 06:35:11 +0000