Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor proposed a 10-year, $1.6 billion Capital Improvement Plan during the September 13 Stafford County School Board meeting.
Of this, 75 percent is dedicated to new school construction or the reconstruction of existing aging school buildings over the next 10 years.
“Per capita, Stafford is the second fastest growing community in Virginia. This year alone, we gained more than 600 new students – the equivalent of an entire elementary school – but we have not built a new school since 2008,” said Dr. Taylor. “We are not keeping up, and we are not providing our students and staff with the learning and working environments they deserve.”
The school system projects an increase of 6,000 students in the next 10 years, calling for a minimum of six new buildings to simply meet the projected capacity requirements.
The plan recommends building three new elementary schools, one new middle school, two new high schools, and one public day school. The program specifies the rebuilding of 4 elementary schools – Falmouth, Grafton Village, Ferry Farm, and Stafford Elementary Schools, as well as the Rising Star Early Childhood Education Center and Edward E. Drew Middle School. Each of these buildings will have exceeded their 60-year life expectancy by the time any approved rebuild begins.
“Our community told us loud and clear – our plans were not enough; we need to think further ahead and plan for anticipated growth and infrastructure needs,” said Dr. Taylor. “Our existing plans would have put us in a worse position in 10 years, even if all projects were funded. This is costly in many ways for students, staff, and taxpayers.”
To date, the County Board of Supervisors approved one high school to open in 2025, one elementary school to open in 2029, and the rebuild of Hartwood Elementary School to finish in 2025. However, construction has not yet begun on these projects. The School Board requested High School 6 in 2008, Elementary School 18 in 2011, and Elementary School 19 in 2021. Had these projects been completed when requested by the School Board, Stafford County would already have students sitting in two of the six requested buildings.
Continuing to delay projects has a cost, and will continue to cost, taxpayers more money. Construction costs have increased and will continue to grow 10-15% each year. Simultaneously, interest rates continue to rise.
“It takes at least 36 months from approval to ribbon cutting for us to build a high school and at least 24 to 36 months for an elementary school,” continued Dr. Taylor. “We really need to be forward thinking. Every time a project gets pushed down the priority list, our schools get more crowded, and it costs the taxpayers more down the road in construction costs, maintenance, and interest rates. Proposing a 10-year Capital Improvement Plan demonstrates fiscal responsibility and saves the taxpayers millions of dollars in the long run.”
Additional proposals in the 10-year budget include two bus-only road construction projects to ease traffic congestion around Stafford and Mountain View High Schools, an additional Fleet Services facility to maintain buses and county vehicles, an indoor aquatics and activities community center, renovations to North Stafford High School’s Arts Wing, and the possible acquisition of the UMW South Campus. The plan also allocates $217.2 million over the 10 years toward overdue and planned major maintenance of the school system’s existing facilities.
The School Board adopted the Superintendent’s proposed Capital Improvement Plan 7-0. The Stafford County School Board will present this Capital Improvement Plan to the Stafford County Board of Supervisors on October 18, 2022. The Board of Supervisors is set to approve the final plan on April 18, 2023.
Funding the plan is now up to the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
