BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – Board of Education took the first step toward building a new 2-5 elementary school after approving a site survey for the campus during the January 2020 meeting.

“Currently, we’re at 97 percent at the middle school, 92 percent at the primary school, and 71 percent at the elementary school. However, if we jump out 10 years from now, we are at 97 percent, still, in the middle school, 99 percent at the primary school, and 78 percent at the elementary school,” explained Assistant Superintendent David Murphy.

Murphy along with Facilities Director Chris Crow and Pioneer RESA Facilities Specialist Doug Fields presented three options for the future of the elementary school. At present, the third graders attend class in the old high school, while the fourth and fifth graders are in the old middle school.

Option A would be to build an entirely new 2-5 school that would be around 125,000 ft. and cost around $20 million. To help cover costs, UCS would request advanced funding from the state and are expected to receive $7.5 million upfront. This option would also require the closing of the third grade and fourth and fifth-grade buildings. However, these buildings would still be used just programs like alternative education and Mountain Education Center. The fourth and fifth-grade building would become an operations and training facility. Students would no longer attend regular class in those buildings.

Entitlement funds could no longer be drawn on the closed buildings, which means taxpayers would be responsible for the upkeep and would have to be accounted for in each SPLOST.

The Entitlement Fund Game

UCS has $1.6 million in earned entitlements as of January 2020, and by 2023, the school district would have around $3 million total in entitlement, not enough to cover the development of a new school.

Fields advised to draw down the $1.6 million before applying for the advanced funding because once UCS requests the $7.5 million, then it can’t receive any more entitlement money  until it’s paid back. He estimated the repayment could take around five to seven years.

“What you want to do is look at everything in your school system right now that does need some work on it, like the renovation at the primary school, HVAC at the middle school because it’s over 17 years old,” explained Fields. “You have to qualify for it, and if you can pay back the advance funding within five years, you won’t qualify for it…You could close the building and bump up your needs significantly and earn more, but you’re still putting off building that new elementary school for another seven or eight years.”

“What’s the timetable on pulling that entitlement money down,” asked Chairperson Cynthia Odom.

Fields told her between now and 2023 because voting to close those buildings before the 2023 SPLOST vote could backfire if SPLOST doesn’t pass. A new school building isn’t included on SPLOST 5, the current tax, and would need to be a part of SPLOST 6.

“Once we put this building in, I can’t for the life of me seeing anything we would need entitlement money for a while,” offered Crow.

“If we were to do pay-as-you-go from the beginning, it would take two or three years before we could even raise enough ESPLOST funding to initiate construction,” said Murphy.

Crow acknowledged that a new school would require a lot of logistics to properly execute. Namely, the 18,000-gallon gas tank would need to be moved, and DOE requires 20 acres.

“If you go down to where the bus garage is now and [follow it to the board of education building], catch A, B, and C [buildings], go back up toward the tech building, we have right at 20 acres. We can make it work with the footprint property that we already have,” said Crow.

The ideas thrown around during the work session for tank placement were the board of education building or the maintenance buildings. The bus garage would move to the industrial park.

“We would have to new plumb everything from that tank to new facilities?” asked board member Tony Hunter.

Crow confirmed that yes, new piping would be necessary for either location. He also mentioned sending the tank to be re-certified and turning it into an underground tank.

“It also puts a life on the tank,” said board member Patrick White, “It’s going to take a lot of life of the tank, dealing with moisture and rust.”

The goal of building a new school in the middle of the campus has in part to do with traffic.

“We’re trying to create a circular flow around campus. The roads are more exterior, rather than interior,” stated Murphy.

Option B and C

Option B would be a total modernization of the existing third-grade building because it’s the only building that meets the requirements. The state would offer $6 million for modernization, and UCS would be locked into the building for 20 years. Towns County is currently undergoing the total modernization process.

This option would also require trailer classrooms for students while the renovations take place, which could cost the school system up to $400,000.

Option C was no nothing and pass the problem to a future board.

Decision for the future

Murphy, Crow, and Fields all spoke in support of the new 2-5 elementary building over the other two options.

“You’re looking at 40 to 60 years with that building. We’re reducing the strain per person; we’re pulling traffic to the exterior of the campus. It also would be built age-appropriate. The third-grade building was originally a high school. The fourth and fifth-grade building was a middle school – a lot of height requirements go into each [unit]. It also provides us the most state money,” stated Murphy.

The cons would be the up-front cost, and “it creates a checkerboard of moving here and moving there and trying to outsmart everything else,” according to Murphy.

Ultimately, the board decided to approve a site survey to gain a better understanding of the land area. Once completed, then decisions can be made about the movement of the gas tank, bus garage, and maintenance facility.