The Duval County School Board is holding a series of community meetings starting Thursday to discuss the condition of its schools and facilities, including aging buildings that need costly repairs or potential replacement.
Duval has schools that are some of the oldest in Florida. The majority are more than 50 years old. Many are outdated or are in poor or very poor condition.
The buildings’ conditions affect the learning environment for students and teachers as well as neighboring property values and local business development, district leaders say.
“What I want every parent and community member to know is that every child deserves to be in a school environment that prepares them for the 21st century. Our goal is to get our buildings up to a standard that every child has the opportunity to be successful,” Superintendent Diana Greene said.
If the district keeps all 158 school buildings operating, it will need $1.08 billion to repair or replace them with new buildings, a study by the Jacobs Engineering group showed last month.
At least 56 — or 30 percent — of Duval’s buildings are identified as being in poor or very poor condition, or they need to be replaced. However, all schools are still safe and operational for students, although some have older, outdated components, according to the study.
The district paid Jacobs Engineering $1.2 million to help it develop a long-term facilities plan, which potentially could include closing and consolidating schools while repairing or replacing others.
“The goal is to complete the process between April and May this school year. ...At that point, the board would have to make decisions on the scenarios completed,” Greene said of the district timeline for making a decision.
In addition to age, building condition and the repair/replacement cost, the district will consider other factors, including the school grade, its enrollment projection, available land for more buildings and the impact on programs and transportation costs and the neighborhood.
The district must find alternatives to pay for any building work because of state cuts and restrictions on money to maintain them.
Complicating Duval’s planning efforts, charter schools continue to open, pulling away district students and state money. Districts can’t plan to open new schools without state approval, but charter schools can open when and where they want.
Duval is among the few major urban school districts that doesn’t have a secondary source of revenue to pay for building costs. Many Florida school districts — including some in Northeast Florida — have imposed impact fees on development, raised sales taxes or increased the property tax rate to generate revenue.
Those are the three main options Duval is looking at currently. However, none would come without some taxpayer opposition.
Greene and School Board members emphasize the need for parent and community involvement in the process.
“What parents should do is engage themselves in the process. ... I encourage them to participate in the community meetings,” said Greene, noting that input will be part of the decision-making process.
Greene also said she’s not leaning in any direction because she needs the completed comprehensive report. “We need all the pieces put in place before any kind of decision is recommended to the board,” she said.
Seven community meetings are intended to provide people with an overview of the schools’ conditions and the district’s possible funding options. There also will be a moderated discussion following the overview.
The board is encouraging parents, residents, business owners in surrounding neighborhoods and Jacksonville City Council members to attend the sessions.
All the meetings begin at 6 p.m. at these locations:
- Thursday — Loretto Elementary School, 3900 Loretto Road.
- Feb. 7 — Paxon School for Advanced Studies, 3239 Norman E. Thagard Blvd.
- Feb. 11 — Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, 2445 San Diego Road.
- Feb. 12 — Alimacani Elementray School, 2051 San Pablo Road South.
- Feb. 25 — Edward White Leadership Academy, 1700 Old Middleburg Road.
- Feb. 27 — Andrew Jackson High School, 3816 N. Main St.
- Feb. 28 — Terry Parker High School, 7301 Parker School Road.
The engineering study said Duval schools most in need of replacement are Pickett Elementary, Highlands Elementary and Annie R. Morgan Elementary. Repairing those buildings would cost 65 percent or more of the cost of tearing them down and rebuilding the schools, according to the study.
Schools identified as being in “very poor” condition include Kirby-Smith Middle, Mt. Herman Exceptional Student Center, Henry F. Kite Elementary and San Mateo Elementary. Those schools’ repair costs are 51 percent to 65 percent of the cost to replace them, the study said.
Jacobs based its assessment of school conditions by looking at the “useful life” of the buildings and their features, including such things as the age of the roof, windows, utilities and exteriors.
For more information: https://dcps.duvalschools.org/Page/1
To read the full Florida Times-Union article, click here.
