Henrico School Board approves $100.1-million CIP funding request

The Henrico School Board is requesting more than $54 million to renovate and expand the school system’s two Advanced Career Education centers, as part of its $100.1-million capital improvement program for Fiscal Year 2021-22, which will begin July 1.

The ACE centers currently offer courses in 36 industries, from automotive technology to landscaping, practical nursing to veterinary science, hotel catering to radio broadcasting and journalism. They are designed to train students for jobs in fields they can enter upon graduation.

Board members unanimously approved the CIP during their Thursday work session; it now will advance to the Henrico Board of Supervisors for consideration during that board’s coming budget process.

School Board members previously this fall had emphasized their desire to expand the ACE programs, particularly after plans for a third ACE center (at Glen Allen High School) fell through when some of the $37 million that had been earmarked for that project in the 2016 bond referndum was applied to other school projects.

Another $42 million from the same referendum that had been planned for expansion of the Highland Springs ACE Center (or construction of a new one) instead was diverted to pay a portion of the construction costs of the new Highland Springs High School – a project that came about after the referendum.

The school board’s CIP proposal also would allocate $20.8 million to renovate the Highland Springs ACE Center, which was built in 1970, and $20.1 million to upgrade the Hermitage ACE Center, built in 1972. The Hermitage center also would be expanded at a cost of $13.1 million.

Officials want to reorganize the myriad of programs offered at each location and add new ones to the mix, as a way to provide more opportunities for students who want to participate in the program. The school system’s Career and Technical Education program currently has 950 seats annually but about 1,900 students apply each year.

In addition to the ACE projects, the board's CIP proposes:

• $19 million for a renovation of Adams Elementary School;

• $9 million in meals tax money to fund 58 assorted projects at various school facilities;

• $6.5 million for the purchase of new school buses and transportation technology upgrades (an increase of $2.5 million from previous years' budgets);

• $5 million for safety and facilities improvements;

• $3.5 million for mechanical and roofing projects (a $1-million increase from typical budgets);

• $2 million for continuous technology upgrades;

• $945,000 for an HVAC replacement and fire system upgrade at the Fairfield Annex;

• $150,000 for a pre-planning study of Donahoe, Glen Allen and Gayton elementaries; Rolfe Middle; and Godwin High, to determine the best course of action for those schools – renovation or complete reconstruction.

Of those, only the Adams Elementary project (2016 bond referendum), school bus replacement and mechanical and roofing projects (general capital) have identified funding sources.

The CIP is a five-year plan but is funded only one year at a time by the Board of Supervisors. Funding plans for the four subsequent years – which total $565.5 million – are only tentative.

In those tentative plans for the FY 2022-23 CIP, school board members are including $57.8 million for the renovation and partial replacement of the Virginia Randolph Complex; $38.9 million apiece for the replacements of Jackson Davis Elementary and Longan Elementary; and $23.9 million for the ongoing renovation of Holladay Elementary.

Those four proposed projects, along with another seven (including the construction of a new elementary school near the River Mill subdivision in Glen Allen and the renovation of replacement of several other schools) total $362.8 million but have no identified funding sources. They're viewed as possible inclusions on the county's next bond referendum, which is anticipated within the next year or so, though no formal plans yet exist.