Fund Our Schools
Heidi Gilman Bennett
It’s no secret that our county is continuing to grow exponentially. More and more growth areas are being identified and approved for development, and more and more families (many with school age children) are joining our communities. This begs the important question: Why does the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors continually underinvest in our school buildings?
Here’s some frustrating data:
Our affluent county has not built a new school in about two decades.
Our schools are already over-crowded.
Today, 83 classrooms are meeting in trailers. These “pods” are less safe, not cheap to lease, not environmentally sustainable, and keep kids separated from school culture.
School board member Kate Acuff explains, “we are falling further and further behind.” So who is to blame?
It’s the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors who are consistently underfunding the school board’s requests. At the current rate, “it will take us fifty years to upgrade the schools,” Acuff says ... at which time, we will once again be behind.
True, the current year budget includes funds for expanding Mountain View elementary school and building high school Center II. But, here’s what the Long Range Planning Committee has determined we urgently need:
New Northern Elementary School – Relieve overcrowding at Baker-Butler & meet enrollment projections given approved new housing.
High School Renovations – Unfunded since 2017, AHS needs basics such as “daylighting” classrooms in a basement with zero natural light. WAHS too has major needs in its 1977 building.
Lambs Lane “campus” study has started, but improvements remain unfunded. The area around AHS, Jouett Middle School and Greer Elementary School is neither car- nor walker-friendly.
Middle and elementary schools all need renovations to make the elderly buildings work for modern learning.
And with all that said, here’s what won’t even BEGIN project development for another 5 years: a new elementary school in western feeder pattern, another county high school, another county middle school, and needed athletic facilities. These are known needs, but we can’t even start planning until after 5 years.
This isn’t a hopeless situation. Here is the URGENT call to action: On December 7, there will be a special joint meeting of the school board and county supervisors. You can email the full Board of Supervisors (bos@albemarle.org) with your magisterial district or address included or participate live or via e-comment. Tell them to “Stop Underfunding Our School Buildings”. The supervisors cannot continue to approve new residential development without also advancing the necessary school facility infrastructure to serve the resulting influx of students and families.