PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — As Prince William County Public Schools experiences its smallest enrollment increase in recent history, plans for a fifteenth high school and two new middle schools have been nixed from the school division’s Capital Improvements Program.
The Capital Improvements Program (CIP) covers 2019 to 2028, and budgets projects to meet demands driven by enrollment growth and student population shifts.
The fifteenth high school was originally planned for 2027, with a capacity for 2,557 and a projected cost of $165.3 million. The two additional middle schools were planned for 2024 in the West-Linton Hall area and 2026 in an undisclosed area. These will be revisited in a future CIP.
The schools’ removal from the 2019-28 CIP is partly “due to planned additions to existing middle schools,” said Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta. Under the current CIP, 13 classrooms will be added to current elementary schools while 57 classrooms will be added to current middle schools, including Lake Ridge and Stonewall middle schools.
That additional space might be enough to put a dent in the school division’s crowding issue. Over-capacity of students has led to widespread usage of portable classrooms — or trailer classrooms — which has been a source of concern for residents and officials over the years.
Gulotta said that the school division has a “portable classroom reduction plan” in place as well, which is anticipated to reduce the number of trailer classrooms in the future.
These plans dovetail with a dip in student enrollment — the smallest numerical increase in recent recorded history, Gulotta said, dating back to 1990. Between 2017-18 and 2018-19, PWCPS experienced a growth of 0.4 percent or 342 students.
Gulotta noted that these numbers are in keeping with overall residential development for the County, which has slowed down as well.
CIP plans also include two new elementary schools and two auxiliary gyms in Woodbridge Senior and Gar-Field Senior high schools.
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