King & Queen could finally see new elementary school in 2025
KING AND QUEEN — Construction is scheduled to begin on a new elementary school in King and Queen County next year, three years after bonds were issued for the project.
King and Queen County recently published an update on the long-awaited school on its website.
“County leadership is exploring options to build an innovative school facility and learning environment for students while being fiscally responsible to taxpayers. Officials and staff are working with engineers and architects as many preliminary matters must be addressed, but county leadership remains hopeful that site work can begin early in 2025, if not before, with building construction to follow immediately after,” the statement said.
The school project has faced delays in recent years. In 2022, The Rappahannock Times reported that construction of the new King and Queen Elementary School was expected to begin in the summer of 2023. In May 2023, the county passed a 5.5-cent real estate tax increase to help fund a rebuilt elementary school, a telework center and a new fire station.
The county addressed the delay in its recent statement, stressing the elementary school has been under consideration for many years.
“Though the design process took much longer than anticipated, and different options were identified and explored along the way, the most readily achievable design and construction options have now been identified,” the statement said.
Final decisions about the school construction project are expected in 2024.
The county issued bonds in 2022 for capital projects including the new school. “A portion of the bond proceeds was spent on the temporary KQES facility as well as school engineering and design, and the balance of the funds remain invested where they currently earn interest at a rate in excess of the rate at which the funds were borrowed,” the county stated.
About $18.5 million of the bond proceeds remain. Once the school has been completed, temporary units on the site may be sold or made available for other uses by the county.
The county is considering the consolidation of King and Queen Elementary School and Lawson Marriott Elementary School as it wrestles with the rising costs of running two aging buildings.
“Operating each elementary school costs the school division approximately $1.8 to $2 million per year. Of that amount, the county currently provides approximately $900,000 (in addition to the $3.4 million required by the state for operations) and an optional state program provides approximately $900,000.
Each penny on the real estate tax rate yields approximately $118,000,” the county stated on its website. “So if the state program on which the school division relies is eliminated or reduced, the county would immediately have to raise real estate taxes by as much as $0.08 just to sustain operations. This does not address renovation or replacement of the second school, which would require even more tax revenue.”
County leaders are considering a less expensive modular construction method, which offers a lower per square foot construction cost. But if a modular school is built, the county said, “the appearance will be equivalent to, or better than, a school built on site.”
David Macaulay, [email protected]
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