Terry Stoops Comments on the Costs of Grand Public School Construction | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dr. Terry Stoops, who is director of research and education studies for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    When Watauga High School opened in 2010, Governor Bev Perdue declared that the school was "what education is all about." If education is all about using millions in taxpayer dollars to build palaces with classrooms, then many districts in North Carolina are doing a fine job of "educating."

    Watauga High School was (and still is) the most expensive school ever built in North Carolina. The final price tag was $79.5 million, but Wake County just opened a school that gave Watauga High a run for its money. If I am not mistaken, the $75 million Rolesville High School is the second most expensive school built in North Carolina. Are $75+ million high schools the new normal? It depends on who you ask.

    In North Carolina, there are examples of districts that build new, high-quality schools for a fraction of what districts such as Wake, Watauga, Guilford, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg spend. In 2006, I wrote about the success of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) building program in a study titled "The Forsyth Formula: Other School Districts Should Learn These Construction Principles." Taxpayers in Forsyth County should thank their lucky stars that nothing has changed.

    I recently toured Walkertown High School, a beautiful facility that bid in 2009 for just over $125 per square foot. In comparison, Rocky Mount High School, which has roughly the same student capacity as Walkertown, bid a few months later for nearly $140 per square foot, a difference of approximately $15 million. By the time Walkertown High School opened in 2012, the final cost was $33 million.

    Give the WS/FCS facilities experts the same $75 million used to build Rolesville High School, and they'll build you two outstanding high school facilities. Two for the price of one ain't bad.

    WS/FCS builds school after school for millions less than their counterparts in other districts. Compare the cost of Walkertown High School to a proposed high school in neighboring Guilford County, for example. The cost of a proposed Guilford County high school located near the Piedmont-Triad Airport was between $70 and $80 million. In January, the Guilford County Board of Education decided to scrap plans for the school, which, I suspect, would have overtaken Watauga High School as the most expensive K-12 school ever built in North Carolina.

    How does the WS/FCS facilities program differ from those of other school districts? I think the answer lies in a mindset that is increasingly difficult to find in school district building programs -- value.

    School board members and district staff champion value, and the concept clearly rubs off on those who work with them. Just ask Winston-Salem architect L. Wesley Curtis Jr., who designed Walkertown High School, or any of the architects, site planners, builders, and contractors who work with WS/FCS. Perhaps one day it will rub off on the rest of the state. Until then, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools will continue to have one of the best school facilities programs in North Carolina.

    Facts and Stats

Five most expensive new school construction projects since 2009


School District  •  School Name  •  Bid Date  •  Cost/sq. ft.

Chatham  •  Pollard Middle School  •  3/11/2009  •  $176.06

Wake  •  Rolesville High School  •  5/31/2011  •  $174.64

Rockingham  •  Douglass Elementary  •  3/18/2010  •  $170.68

Guilford  •  EC West School  •  7/28/2009  •  $168.27

Guilford  •  Jamestown Middle School  •  1/1/2009  •  $158.89


Five least expensive new school construction projects since 2009


School District  •  School Name  •  Bid Date  •  Cost/sq. ft.

Cabarrus  •  Patrios Elementary School  •  3/24/2009  •  $98.39

Cabarrus  •  Winkler Middle School  •  4/7/2009  •  $101.95

Cabarrus  •  Allen Elementary School  •  3/31/2009  •  $105.32

Forsyth  •  Career Center High School  •  12/15/2009  •  $106.19

Cabarrus  •  Hickory Ridge Middle School  •  3/17/2009  •  $107.34


Source: NC Department of Public Instruction, School Planning Division, "Costs of Recent NC School Projects," Tuesday, August 20, 2013.

    "With a budget of $75 million, the 349,000-square-foot Rolesville High School dwarfs all prior construction projects in Wake County school history. It's both the first four-story high school in Wake and the first designed from scratch to hold more than 2,200 students. It also incorporates design features not previously used in the district's construction plans."
Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




When No One Knows What Goes On Behind Closed Doors John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics No longer the smartest kids


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it
Former President Donald Trump suggested this week that if he becomes president again, he might allow Prince Harry to be deported.
It's a New Year, which means it's time to make resolutions — even for prominent evangelical leaders. The Babylon Bee asked the following well-known figures in the faith what they hope to accomplish in 2024:
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic, reportedly the first time a president or vice president has visited an abortion facility.
An eight-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville has been temporarily closed due to a string of “human and bear interactions,” the National Parks Service announced.
University of Wisconsin tried to punish conservatives for the fact that liberals regularly commit crimes to silence opposition
most voters think EU officials not doing a good job on illegal immigration
Come from behind by GOP candidate is a blueprint to 2024

HbAD1

 
Back to Top