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Two new schools and major renovations or replacements of 18 others are among the major projects prioritized by the Henrico County School Board in the five-year capital improvement program it approved Nov. 14.
The board is seeking $112.3 million in funding in the coming fiscal year (2020-21), which will begin July 1, from the Henrico Board of Supervisors. The capital improvement program is funded only one year at a time.
In total, the projects listed on the five-year CIP are anticipated to cost $863.2 million if they all come to fruition during that timeline. The School Board typically adjusts the plan from year to year, however.
The $35-million construction of the Glen Allen High School Advanced Career Education (ACE) Center; a new $33.9-million elementary school in or near the River Mill community near Virginia Center; and am $11.3-million, eight-classroom expansion at an undetermined middle school (likely Hungary Creek, the only middle school currently over capacity) highlight the projects targeted for funding in the coming fiscal year.
The latter two projects hadn’t appeared on the CIP at all until last month, when planners deemed them urgent and suggested the board add them. No funding source has been identified for either project, or for a $650,000 capital facility pre-planning study.
All other projects for which the board is seeking funding in FY 20-21 would be funded either through the general capital fund, the 2016 bond referendum or the county’s meals tax.
Those projects include:
• an additional $12.5 million for the replacements of Tucker and Highland Springs high schools (split evenly between the two), which would come from the county’s meals tax;
• $6 million for the continued replacement of aging school buses;
• smaller scale security enhancements, bathroom improvements, HVAC improvements and other similar projects at 38 schools, all of which would be funded through the county’s meals tax.
Funding in the amount of $37.3 million for a new Far West End elementary school is targeted for FY 22-23; no location for the school has yet been proposed, and no funding source has been identified.
Other longer-term projects identified in the CIP include:
• a $19-million renovation of Adams Elementary (funded by the 2016 bond referendum and scheduled for FY 21-22);
• the replacement of Quioccasin Middle ($77.3 million), the Academy at Virginia Randolph ($57.8 million), Longan Elementary ($38.9 million) and Davis Elementary ($38.9 million) in FY 22-23;
• the renovation of Highland Springs Elementary ($20.8 million) in FY 22-23;
• the replacement of the Central Gardens building ($40.9 million), which houses the Math and Science Innovation Center, in FY 23-24;
• the renovation of Hermitage High and its ACE Center ($110.4 million) and the Highland Springs ACE Center ($22.9 million) in FY 23-24;
• the renovation of Dumbarton Elementary ($23.9 million), Carver Elementary ($19.4 million) and Three Chopt Elementary ($14.7 million) and in FY 23-24.
Aside from the Adams Elementary renovation, none of the other projects have an identified funding source, and most or all likely would require a new bond referendum in order to take shape, School Board members have suggested.
The Board of Supervisors will consider approval of the School Board’s CIP along with the latter’s overall budget request in the spring. (View the CIP at https://tinyurl.com/HCPSCIP.)
At the School Board’s Nov. 14 work session, board members also received an update about the student populations of Henrico schools.
Ten county schools are currently over capacity, as of September: Colonial Trail E.S.; Fair Oaks E.S.; Gayton E.S.; Holladay E.S.; Pinchbeck E.S.; Rivers Edge E.S.; Hungary Creek E.S.; Freeman H.S.; Glen Allen H.S.; and Highland Springs H.S. Of those, Holladay is the farthest over, at 118 percent of its capacity. (A new version of Holladay – double the size of the current school – will open in Sept. 2021. School officials opted to double the school rather than build a separate elementary in the region.)
An additional 10 schools are at more than 94 percent of their functional capacity: Donahoe E.S.; Dumbarton E.S.; Highland Springs E.S.; Longan E.S.; Maybeury E.S.; Nuckols Farm E.S.; Ridge E.S.; Three Chopt E.S.; Deep Run H.S.; and Godwin H.S.
Though the school system’s student population grew by just 224 students this year, overall it’s only grown by 36 students in the four-year period since 2015, fluctuating slightly each year since.
This year’s jump was higher than planners had projected, though; they had anticipated an increase of just six students system-wide.
In total, their projections were lower than the actual number of students at 23 elementary schools, five middle schools and six high schools, though in most cases those differences were slight.
The least crowded elementary schools in the county are Mehfoud (at 51 percent of its capacity) and Varina (44 percent); those two schools are split, with Mehfoud offering kindergarten through second grade and Varina offering third through fifth grades.
Other elementary schools on the least-crowded list: Baker (66 percent), Kaechele (68 percent), Ashe (70 percent), Seven Pines (72 percent) Chamberlayne (73 percent), Echo Lake and Ward (77 percent).
The least crowded middle schools are Rolfe (62 percent of capacity) and Elko (72 percent), while the least-crowded high schools are Varina (73 percent) and Henrico and Hermitage (80 percent).
During its work session, the School Board also received detailed demographic information about its schools. Those stats showed that the Henrico schools with the highest percentage of:
• white students is Tuckahoe ES (91 percent);
• black students is Ratcliffe ES (94 percent);
• Asian students is Rivers Edge ES (59 percent);
• Hispanic students is Johnson ES (46 percent);
• multi-racial students is Trevvett ES (9 percent).
The most ethnically diverse Henrico elementary schools (those without at least 50 percent of students of any one ethnicity) are primarily in the county’s Near West End or Northside: Carver E.S., Davis E.S., Dumbarton E.S., Greenwood E.S., Holladay E.S., Johnson E.S., Lakeside E.S., Longan E.S., Ridge E.S., Sandston E.S., Short Pump E.S., Skipwith E.S., Trevvett E.S.
The most ethnically diverse middle and high schools, according to the same standards, are Brookland, Holman, Hungary Creek, Moody and Quioccasin middle schools; and Hermitage and Tucker high schools.
