Education SPLOST projects move forward in 2023
Coming on the tail of some significant fiscal belt tightening, including school closings in recent years, Floyd County Schools Superintendent Glenn White and the Floyd County Board of Education is getting ready to spend some of their savings.
“If things go according to plan,” Floyd County Schools Deputy Superintendent Jamey Alcorn says, “We might be spending close to $10 million dollars this summer.”
Major projects are in store for all Floyd County High Schools; Armuchee, Coosa, Pepperell and Model.
The two biggest items are new fieldhouses at Armuchee and Coosa High Schools, which are both scheduled to be completed this summer, and new turf football fields and synthetic running tracks at Model and Pepperell High Schools.
“Floyd County has had some financial issues in the past,” White said. “However, these projects are all going to be self-funded as our fiscal conservatism is paying some dividends.”
After their new fieldhouses are completed, Armuchee and Coosa High Schools will receive new turf football fields and synthetic tracks as well.
There are currently over 70 projects scheduled across the 16 individual county schools, ranging from canopies so children and parents aren’t drenched when picking up and dropping off kids in the rain, to new roofs and new school marquee signs.
New LED lights for all four high school baseball fields have also recently been completed, and Pepperell’s football field has new sod.
ROME MIDDLE SCHOOL
Meanwhile, the City of Rome has begun to undertake the planning and development of a new Rome Middle School after the Rome City Commission voted to approve $103 million in bonds for its development in January.
“The issue we’re in right now is because we’re growing,”
said Commissioner Elaina Beeman, a former Rome Board of Education member.
The total estimated price of a new school on Three Rivers Drive, across Veterans Memorial Highway from the existing one, is $119 million.
$16 million will come from state capital outlay funds on top of a voter-approved
education special purpose local option sales tax that will fund $54 million of the facility over time. The city is backing bonds for just over $103 million in the project.
That facility will house sixth through eighth grades, moving sixth graders out of the elementary school buildings to alleviate serious overcrowding.
If that were to happen today, using current enrollment numbers, that would raise the RMS enrollment to 1,443 students. The new school would be able to house 2,000 students, and purposebuilt to allow expansion for another 500 students if needed.
The new middle school will have a C wing storm shelter, an auditorium and an athletics wing. That athletic wing also includes an art room, band
room and areas for other extracurricular activities.
Additional parts of the build include synthetic turf baseball and football fields alongside concession stands and bathroom facilities. Those facilities would include a 1,000 seat home grandstand and 500 seat visitor bleachers for the football field, and baseball bleachers with seats for 100 home and 50 visitors.