County Commissioners approve request for school projects
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The Davidson County Board of Commissioners focused on the three school districts in the county during its meeting on Monday night.
Both Lexington City and Thomasville City Schools requested the commissioners support their application to apply for needs-based grants to build new high schools and Davidson County Schools requested funds to remodel its central office.
Every year, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction provides grants to school districts to assist with capital needs, such as building new facilities. Grants from the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund are funded with revenue from the NC Education Lottery but require up to 25% in matching funds from the local government.
Thomasville City Schools is applying for a $62 million needs-based grant to replace Thomasville High School, which would require a $15.5 million match in local funds. The estimated cost for the new Thomasville high school is $93.3 million, so after factoring in grant, if awarded, and the county’s match, a gap of $14.4 million would remain.
The commissioners approved a request to allow Thomasville City Schools to apply for the needs-based grant.
Lexington City Schools is also applying for the $62 million needs-based grant to replace Lexington Senior High School with the county’s required minimum match of $15.5 million. The estimated cost to build a new Lexington high school is $99.6 million, leaving a remaining $37.6 million to complete the project.
The county commissioners approved Lexington City Schools request to apply for the needs-based grant. The deadline to submit these applications is Oct. 3.
Davidson County Manager Casey Smith said the county should be prepared for alternate plans if neither of the school districts receive the grant. He said because of the competitiveness of these grants and the fact the DPI only allocates one grant per county, there needs to be a funding plan for the renovation or rebuilding of these two schools.
He said the county could either give the school districts cash yearly from tax surplus to do lesser renovations in phases or incur future debt to build the new facilities at one time. Smith said the county will see a significant reduction in its current debt service by 2029, leaving the county in a better position to complete these projects.
“If (the county paying) has to become a reality...the out years have some promise for us to do one of two things. Either pass that cash along to the school districts and maybe these high schools can get renovated more and more in phases or there is a potential to borrow (the money) at some point at time,” said Smith.
The county commissioners also approved a request from Davidson County Schools for $4.3 million to renovate its administration building. The board approved $2.9 million from the School Capital Reserve Interest to add to the $1.5 million already budgeted for the DSC Admin School Capital Project (Project SCCARE).
The project includes the addition of an elevator, new roof, a one-story addition to the front of the building and a two-story addition to the rear of the building, netting a total increase of 6,116 square feet. It also includes demolition of the rear office area over the older porches, and the removal of the two side open front porch areas.
According to school representatives, this will update will make the building ADA compliant and allow for all school support staff to be able to work at one location.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Todd Yates said he was pleased to see the school district had revised its proposal from the original $25 million to renovate the Davidson County Schools Administrative Building.
“This is how things change,” said Yates. “This new school board doesn’t want to spend $25 million on an ad min building. If we had started this two years ago, we would be in the middle of a $25 million project, but they are happy with what they are getting and they said they would rather put the money in the schools.”
