School Board to discuss $300 million growth

The Sarasota County School District needs new schools to keep up with forecasted student counts, but how to pay the more than $320 million in expansion costs remains in question.

School board members will meet for a workshop Tuesday, during which they will discuss the growth needs forecasted by consultant Tindale Oliver, and funding options for acquiring land and building new schools. The consultant’s growth management study recommends the district fund two new elementary schools within the first five years of the next capital improvement plan, and another three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school during the next half-decade.

Staff estimate that growth will cost as much as $80 million over the next five years and $342 million in the next decade, according to back-up workshop materials.

The board will consider re-instating impact fees, borrowing funds, deferring maintenance or capital projects and requiring developers to pay a proportionate share for new projects in areas with no capacity for new students.

The district has not collected impact fees, which are charges for new development, following a moratorium approved in 2010. If re-instated, impact fee revenues could exceed $70 million over the next five years and $160 million in the next decade.

Following the workshop, district staff will collect public comments on growth management from two information sessions, the first of which will be held at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2 at Suncoast Technical College. The next meeting will take place at 6 p.m. the same day at Taylor Ranch Elementary School in south Sarasota County.

During Tuesday’s workshop, school board members will also discuss a new district logo.