For over a decade, Charlottesville City Schools has been discussing a massive school reconfiguration, which would move fifth graders from Walker Upper Elementary—which houses fifth and sixth grade—down to elementary school, and sixth graders up to Buford Middle School. Walker would then be turned into a centralized preschool with a range of wraparound services. The plan has a big price tag, though. In the Capital Improvement Plan draft, the city set aside $50 million for the project, but it is now expected to cost between $50 million and $80 million, according to several options recently presented by VMDO Architects, the firm that will design the project. (The most expensive design would cost a whopping $123 million.)
To cover this hefty price tag, the reconfiguration working group—composed of city and school officials—has now proposed putting $60 million solely toward renovating and expanding Buford. It also wants to begin construction in 2023, one year earlier than previously planned, to prevent additional costs from inflation. The city would then make a limited capital investment into the Walker preschool until more funding is available.
The $60 million would pay for a three-story addition to Buford, with media and support spaces. It would also cover a new gym, an update of academic and art buildings, and a media center renovation.
During a budget work session last Tuesday, City Council struggled to figure out how to pay for both phases of reconfiguration. It already planned to partially fund the $50 million placeholder with a 10-cent real estate tax rate increase, but now needs to find additional sources.
“Getting both the facilities as well as the capacity to what was needed to accommodate the three grade levels was determined to be the priority, and getting fifth graders back in the elementary schools,” said Councilor Heather Hill, a member of the working group. “If we find those other funding sources, Walker could in fact finish within the same time frame. But right now, with the limitations of our city dollars, the priority was on this Phase 1 for Buford.”
To allocate the additional $10 million for the Buford expansion, council could borrow from the $18 million currently set aside for the West Main Streetscape, another huge CIP project. Councilor Michael Payne agreed that the streetscape needed to be paused in order to completely afford the school reconfiguration.
“I’ve seen people say they wish they could do both, but I just haven’t seen a realistic argument for how that’s possible,” said Payne. “The only way I can maybe see it being possible is if there’s some sort of infrastructure bill passed by Congress, and we’re able to take advantage of that.”
However, Payne shared his concerns about the city not taking on any new capital projects while it works on school reconfiguration.
“We need to have an honest conversation about the specifics of what those trade-offs are going to mean,” said Payne. “What if there’s an unexpected increase in the cost of public housing redevelopment?”
Before allocating more CIP funds toward reconfiguration, Payne suggested waiting to see if the General Assembly approves legislation allowing the city to increase its sales tax by 1 cent, which could generate $10 million a year for school capital projects. (If it is passed, the proposed legislation would then need to be voted on in a local referendum.)
“If the [tax increase] doesn’t happen, then we evaluate and go forward from there,” he added.
Councilor Sena Magill echoed Payne’s sentiments. “What if something’s coming up? How are we supposed to do this maxing out? That maxes out our bond capacity entirely.” she said.
“If we can get the sales tax that’s great, but we have to plan if we don’t get the sales tax,” she added.
Though he did not agree the streetscape project should be put on hold, Councilor Lloyd Snook also supported upping the sales tax. “We need to make plans that we are going to get the increase and we are going to be able to fund the schools the way the school board wants to—and move forward with other projects,” he said.
City Manager Chip Boyles agreed that the sales tax increase would be a “game changer” for the reconfiguration project, but noted that it can’t be included in the budget until it’s passed by the General Assembly.
Hill worried that if the streetscape project is cut now, the city will lose out on future potential funding sources. However, Mayor Nikuyah Walker emphasized that the city needs to put more money toward equity initiatives, like affordable housing.
“Those are the types of things that we need to be focusing on if we’re going to be maxing out [the CIP budget], not if we are going to continue projects like West Main Street,” said Walker.
It remains unclear when council will vote on funding the school reconfiguration, or the fate of the West Main Streetscape. It is expected to select a conceptual design for the reconfiguration in October.
