Muscogee schools to spend $189 million on building projects. Here’s what’s first
The order in which Columbus public schools will be renovated is clearer.
During the Muscogee County School District’s annual school board retreat, conducted Saturday via videoconference, chief operating officer David Goldberg presented a timeline for the capital projects funded by the 1% Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) that Columbus voters renewed in June.
The tax will last for five years or until $189 million is collected, whichever comes first.
All of MCSD’s 60 buildings (schools and other facilities) will be upgraded in some way as part of the plan, Goldberg told the board. Included on the list are the first five schools in each of MCSD’s three regions that will be renovated in the following order:
East Region
- 1. Lonnie Jackson Academy
- 2. Rothschild Middle School
- 3. Forrest Road Elementary School
- 4. Georgetown Elementary School
- 5. Wesley Heights Elementary School
Central Region
- 1. Key Elementary School
- 2. Brewer Elementary School
- 3. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School
- 4. Gentian Elementary School
- 5. Eddy Middle School
West Region
- 1. Davis Elementary School
- 2. Wynnton Arts Academy
- 3. Double Churches Elementary School
- 4. Allen Elementary School
- 5. River Road Elementary School
The region chiefs and plant services personnel met to determine the first five school renovation projects and their order in each region, Goldberg said, based on need and funding.
“I feel like we have a really good plan to move forward,” he told the board. “We feel like we have all the money lined up.”
No estimated costs or timelines for those projects are available because they still are in the planning phase, Goldberg told the Ledger-Enquirer, but such information was released for other projects:
Other projects
Odis Spencer Stadium
- Construct systemwide sports complex on Cusseta Road, comprising a stadium with an artificial field for football, soccer and lacrosse, plus five tennis courts.
- Estimated cost: $26 million ($11 million from ESPLOST approved in 2015 and $15 million from ESPLOST approved in 2020)
- Estimated completion: January 2023
Stephen T. Butler STEAM Center
- Upgrade systemwide facility for activities in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
- Estimated cost: $2 million
- No estimated completion
New elementary school
- Will be constructed behind Dawson and merge Dawson with St. Marys.
- Estimated cost: $25 million
- Estimated completion: August 2023
Mathews Elementary School
- Add four classrooms
- Estimated cost: $1.5 million
- Estimated completion: January 2022
Kendrick High School
- Unspecified additions
- Estimated cost: $4 million
- No estimated completion date
Middle school athletics fields
- Upgrades at Baker, East Columbus and Rothschild
- No estimated cost
- Estimated completion: August 2021
High school weight rooms
- Expansions at Carver, Columbus and Northside
- Estimated cost: $1 million total
- Estimated completion: October 2021
Columbus High School
- Upgrade exterior
- Estimated cost: $1 million
- Estimated completion: January 2022
High school tracks
- Replacements at Carver and Hardaway
- Estimated cost: $1 million total
- Estimated completion: April 2021
Veterans Memorial Middle School
- Expand band room
- Estimated cost: $500,000
- Estimated completion: January 2022
College and Career Academy
- Enhance program at Jordan Vocational High School
- Estimated cost: $3 million
- Estimated completion: January 2023
Hardaway High School
- Unspecified additions
- Estimated cost: $4 million
- No estimated completion
Arnold Magnet Academy
- Modernize entire middle school
- Estimated cost: $13 million
- No estimated completion
MCSD superintendent David Lewis emphasized to the board that this plan still is tentative “simply because of availability of materials and fabrication, things of that nature, that can be and have been delayed in some respects as a result of the pandemic.”
