Henrico School Board approves capital funds request, sets long-term school construction plan

Henrico School Board members approved a $26.5 million request for capital improvement funds from the Henrico Board of Supervisors and accepted about $4 million in state and federal grants at a Dec. 12 meeting.

The $26.5 million ask, on which the board of supervisors will vote this spring, would allocate $10 million towards mechanical needs (mainly HVAC repairs), $6 million for roofing repairs, $2 million for technology upgrades, $6 million for school bus replacement, $1.5 million for other vehicle replacements, and $1 million for playground replacements. 

The school board also discussed a long-term plan for school building replacements and renovations from 2029 and 2035.

Hermitage High School, which was originally set to be worked on in 2030-2031, was moved up to 2029-2030 after an October meeting at which Brookland District representative Kristi Kinsella asked for Hermitage to be a higher priority. Three Chopt Elementary and Dumbarton Elementary were moved back a year to 2030-2031.

Henrico Schools Chief of Operations Lenny Pritchard also said that while Douglas S. Freeman High School is over capacity this school year, HCPS has decided not to make any school boundary changes as of now, but staffers will “continue to review capacity and student enrollment projections.”

Tuckahoe District representative Marcie Shea, who during an October meeting brought up concerns about Freeman being between 100.2% and 101.2% capacity, said that she hopes the school division still will consider moving some students from Freeman over to Mills E. Godwin High School to alleviate overcrowding. 

“I continue to feel urgency around the capacity at Freeman,” Shea said. “I believe there are viable, straightforward solutions to relieve enrollment at Freeman by utilizing available capacity at Godwin, and these solutions will not create a rippling domino effect to other high schools or to elementary and middle school boundaries.”

Kinsella also requested that the board continue discussions about class sizes in the district. Average class sizes for the division’s elementary, middle and high schools as of this past September all were below the state’s required student-to-teacher ratios, with the average class being 19.2 students for elementary schools, 17.2 students for middle schools, and 19 students for high schools. Only one school, J.R. Tucker High, had an average class size (21.3 students) that was over the state’s ratio.

However, Kinsella said she believes some schools still have class sizes that are “larger than should be” and requested that the board allocate more resources to these schools during the upcoming budget process.

The board also approved almost $4 million in grant funds at the meeting, including a $3.45 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency for the division to purchase 10 new electric school buses. Three Chopt District representative Madison Irving urged the board to commit to phasing out the current school bus fleet to all electric and carbon-neutral vehicles in the next 10 to 15 years.

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.