Students in Alexandria City Public Schools would have fewer computer labs next school year and more crowded classrooms, according to the district’s modest plans for capital improvements.
Superintendent Morton Sherman discussed two capital budgets with the school board this week – a “needs-based” plan that “shows the true need for investment,” and a modified plan mindful of “the expectation that economic growth will continue to recover slowly.”
The district has experienced some of the most rapid enrollment increases in the Washington region. Next year, numbers are expected to grow by more than 3 percent to about 12,000 students. Over the next five years, the district’s planners project an 18 percent increase, or more than 2,000 additional students.
The changes have led PTA presidents to appear before the school board this year with complaints that their schools are “bursting at the seams.”
The modified proposal would cost the city about $127 million, compared to the needs-based proposal for about $139 million. Last year’s final capital budget was about $72 million.
The superintendent pointed out long-term needs, such as four schools that will have reached their recommended “building age” of 75 years within the next five years: George Washington Middle and Mount Vernon, Matthew Maury and George Mason elementaries.
Short-term obstacles include two schools – Jefferson Houston and Cora Kelly elementaries – that have room for more children but can’t be used as a destination for new students until they improve their test scores under the No Child Left Behind law.
Solutions next year include the conversion of computer labs into full-time classrooms, necessitating portable computer carts that teachers could request. In addition, the superintendent would consolidate early childhood programs at the city’s west end into John Adams school, creating more space at neighboring buildings.
Over the next five years, the plan calls for two new school buildings, one on the city’s west end, one on its east. Projected costs for both would be more than $40 million.
“Not only common sense but longstanding evidence indicates that investment in the city’s schools is an investment in the city’s future,” Sherman wrote in his proposal.
Even modest proposals have a way of tightening, however. Last year, an $82 million request was whittled down to about $72 million after going through the school board and city officials.
