The design and planning costs for a new elementary school in York County are unlikely to appear in next year’s budget, delaying the school division’s efforts to squelch a predicted overcrowding issue.
School board members hoped to move forward with planning the new school, including it in the fiscal year 2015 capital improvement program — an outline for major projects — proposed to York County Administrator James McReynolds. They learned at a work session Monday the CIP was approved to move on to the Board of Supervisors without funding for new school planning next year.
Carl James, the division’s chief operating officer, made the presentation and said the elementary school was the only major change from the school board’s requests. He said the project was not approved due to lack of funding.
Without being included in the CIP — a separate fund from the operating budget — YCSD cannot move forward with any preliminary development phases.
CFO Dennis R. Jarrett noted McReynolds did not dispute more space will be required with an expected influx of students in the coming years. The division is projecting 190 new students in the upcoming year, and more as new developments already approved by the supervisors are constructed.
“The need is there, the need’s recognized, but they’re not funding it,” Jarrett told board members. He estimated the school board has asked about seven times for consideration without success.
Chairman Mark Medford said though YCSD continues to monitor and anticipate growth, it could find itself at crisis capacity levels among the elementary schools before the planning process begins. He noted it could take at least three years to get a new school project up and running once the division is able to start designs.
“We could be really underwater if we’re trying to find space for our children to be in school somewhere or having to find space for learning cottages,” he said, referring to the trailers that would be necessary to accommodate the elementary student population.
If the planning for a new school is included in the CIP, Medford said development can be adjusted for sudden movement or growth. Leaving it out entirely will cause a delay if a problem worsens without a plan in place.
“That’s really going to hold you up a lot, waiting for the actual design to occur,” James said.
James said the plan for fiscal year 2017 does include funding for trailers, but Medford countered trailers might cost field space for elementary schools already feeling a squeeze in number of students.
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