Fayette County School Board Advances Eastview Elementary Renovation, Addresses Long-Term Facility Plan

The Fayette County Board of School Trustees has given preliminary approval for a significant construction and renovation project at Eastview Elementary. The plan, estimated at a maximum of $15 million, aims to modernize the school and expand its capacity.

The project involves extensive renovations to the school, which was built in the 1950s, as well as a new addition. Superintendent Jeremy Duncan explained that the project would improve the learning environment and allow for new programming. “We’ve obviously been down this road for quite some time, just talking through what is next and what is to come for the school corporation,” Duncan stated. “Eastview would be the next elementary school for consideration in terms of renovation… that school facility has been in the inventory for quite some time, and we expect it to be in the inventory for quite some time.”

Financial advisors from Baker Tilly, including Lacey Vachon, presented a funding plan for the project. Vachon noted that the $15 million figure is a not-to-exceed maximum. “We built in some contingencies with those just to make sure that we’re setting those numbers high enough to allow the school flexibility when pursuing the project,” she said, reassuring the board that the plan is designed to move forward without raising the current tax rate for residents.

The board’s action is a step in the legal process, allowing administrators to continue planning and preparing for the project. “This is not the last time that you will see this or have a conversation about this,” said a representative from Gibraltar Design. “There are multiple checkpoints where we will return to the board and return to the public.”

Superintendent Duncan also added a final thought on the board’s approach: “We none of us want to paint ourselves in a corner, take out too much debt, and then find ourselves in this position where we have aging buildings that we can’t address the need for moving forward.”