Decatur Schools Set Priority List For SPLOST Construction Projects

The Decatur School Board has approved a priority list for spending income from the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) that voters approved last November. The list:

• Build or buy space for central administrative offices so the can be turned into an elementary school again.

• Add four new classrooms to . This would be accomplished by demolishing four classrooms in an older wing and building eight new classrooms. Modular classroooms will be necessary during the interim, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards said.

• Add four new classrooms to the . The school now has about 515 students. The expansion would accommodate about 100 more.

• Renovate the existing old gymnasium into four to six classrooms.

Edwards said a larger-than-expected enrollment increase has pushed some of the projects up the priority list.

The school system is now seeking bids from companies to advise the system on what contractors to hire. That company should be hired by early June.

The school system is already talking about , which the city is renovating. Last week the school board and city commission met together and discussed logistics of such a move.

However, a committee that studied enrollment recommended the Westchester conversion not take place for the 2012-13 school year.

Voters in DeKalb County approved a referendum on . Decatur school officials estimate the SPLOST income for the city system will be between $12 million and $18 million.

Some of the money would be used for deferred maintenance, to pay the bond ont he 4/5 Academy and to pay for property management at the Early Childhood Learning Center.