Editor’s note: One of our community’s greatest strengths is the outstanding quality of our local public school system. Long ranked as the No. 1 public school system in the entire state of Florida, St. Johns County schools offer our children a well-rounded and academically rigorous education. The tremendous population growth our county has seen, however, has led to concerns about school overcrowding. In the first of a continuing series for Sand Castles, District 4 School Board Member Kelly Barrera answers the question: How are new schools approved and built — and can we ever get rid of portable classrooms?
In St. Johns County, we are always in the process of evaluating enrollment growth and the need for new schools. Over the last five years, we have constructed six new schools and three school expansions. Recently, we witnessed the opening of Beachside High School on C.R. 210. But even as we celebrate the opening of a school that will relieve overcrowding at nearby high schools, plans are well underway for three new K-8 schools slated to open in the 2024 school year.
This process impacts and involves numerous school departments, including planning, facilities, finance and curriculum. What’s more, there are several steps involved before a new school is approved to be built. It’s a process that can take eight to 12 months, and the approval process includes both the St. Johns County School Board (SJCSB) and the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).
Step 1: Monitoring Growth
The first step focuses on growth. Our planning department works directly with St. Johns County on building permits, approved and pending development and certificates of occupancy. Planning staff also work with developers to ensure that future development projects are factored into student growth plans.
While this local growth information is vital to our planning and operations, the projections that must be used to determine the need for a new school come from FDOE. They produce their own five-year projections for students who will require a physical seat in our schools through the Capital Outlay Full-Time Equivalent (COFTE) determination process. These COFTE projections do not account for students attending virtual classes, home education or who are hospitalized or homebound.
Step 2: Educational Plant Survey
Once the COFTE projections have demonstrated a need for a new school, the school district can move to the next step of preparing an Educational Plant Survey (EPS). If this survey demonstrates that the school district is using all available seats for students to the fullest extent possible, the school district can then secure the revenue needed to fund a new school. This survey is submitted to the St. Johns County School Board and then to FDOE for approval.
During this process, the school district must determine how best to accommodate enrollment growth until the new building opens. Typically, this involves using portable classrooms, relocatables or villas to provide temporary classrooms for our students until approval of a new school can be built. Because the school district is growing rapidly in several areas, relocatables assist in managing student growth until new student stations are available. As these facilities are leased and not part of a school’s permanent capacity, they do not count against our permanent seat utilization. It is therefore not expected that they will be eliminated from our facilities.
Step 3: 5-Year Facilities Work Plan
Once the EPS is approved, the third step in the process is the completion and approval by the school board and FDOE of a Five Year District Facilities Work Plan demonstrating the need and funding available to build a new school.
If approved, the school district’s planning department will begin the process of determining which available school site is the most suited to relieve overcrowding, based on the most recent growth rates, projections, utilization rates and proximity of other school facilities.
The district utilizes prototype designs whenever possible to streamline the school construction process and incorporate past experience to continually improve school facilities. Once the prototype design has been adapted to the new school site, an RFP (request for proposal) will be advertised for a contractor to build the facility within the cost of construction caps that have been placed on school districts. This step has become more challenging due to increased costs as well as labor and supply shortages. We are now extending the time frame to construct a new school to two years.
Throughout this process, the school district will continue to project growth for the new school site to assist the school board in determining the zoning of students. Since our schools operate on a per- student funding model, a new school must be able to open with a large enough population to support the administration and support staff needed to operate it. We would not be able to financially operate a school without a student body large enough to sustain it.
In coordination with the new school construction plans, school department staff, administration and the school board will work together on a myriad of decisions regarding school administration, academics, electives, after-school activities and culture.
For more information on the process for approving a new school building, go to stjohns.k12.fl.us/newschools/process-for-approval-of-new-school-construction.
