Prince William County School Board CIP Work Session - January 14, 2026

001Good evening. I'm going to call to order the uh work session for the um capital improvement plan work session for Wednesday, January 14th, 2026. Um at this time, I will take a vote for the uh a motion for the agenda. Vice Chair Jesse. >> Chair, I move that the Prince County School Board approve the meeting agenda is recommended. >> Do I have a second? Second. >> Miss Tradenic seconds a motion. Any discussion? Please vote by raising your hand. Um, that looks like one, two, three, six, seven. Yes. One absent. Motion passes. Moving on to our proposed CIP. I'd like to turn the meeting over to Dr. McDade. Dr. McDade. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, greetings to the chair, vice chair, and members of the board as well as community that may be watching via

002liveream. Today's work session is focused solely on the capital improvement plan and the conditions that must guide our decisions moving forward. For more than three decades, Prince William County has experienced growth. Growth such as new neighborhoods, new schools, and new facilities. Much of the planning in our county has reflected that reality. But today's presentation asks us to confront a different paradigm. You will hear from our team about projected enrollment trends that point to significant declines over the next decade. These projections have implications for how we use our facilities in the near term and for how we plan responsibly for the long-term success of Prince William County Schools. Particularly, this planning must be accomplished considering increasing costs and declining utilization due to enrollment across the school division. The information that you'll see today is intended to

003lay the groundwork. Much of it is for future consideration, not necessarily immediate action. However, there is one area where your guidance will be essential. As part of the work, the board will be presented with two capital scenarios. one that continues forward with a previously planned um high school, the 14th high school, and one that pivots in favor of reinvesting resources into other high priority needs across the school system. While no vote is anticipated today, we are seeking your direction as we prepare the proposed budget and align our capital priorities accordingly. I realize that this is extremely complex work. It reflects demographic shifts, fiscal responsibility, and our commitment to making strategic student centered decisions. The decisions require us to rethink longstanding assumptions in favor of longstanding practices. This is definitely a different school system than it

004was when enrollment was continuing to grow year-over-year. And so now we have to make different types of decisions that are very complex. So with that context, I'm going to turn the presentation over to our team, beginning with our chief operating officer, Mr. Vernon Bach, our chief information officer is also a part of the team, Mr. Matt Guil, and our chief financial officer, Mr. Shaquille Yousef. Um, and so they'll have members of their team that will present uh data and walk you through several different scenarios as well as implications for decisions that must be made on the capital improvement plan. So, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Bach. All right. Thank you, Dr. McDade. Good evening, uh, Dr. uh, Latif, uh, board members and Dr. McDade. Uh, we're here to present to you obviously our

005proposed capital improvement plan for 2027 2031. Um, the development of this plan has been truly a collaborative effort between uh, the chief information officer, the chief operating officer, and the chief financial officer and our teams. uh we generally begin the development of the CIP in the fall and it truly has been a collaborative effort between these three departments and I feel like it's a shining example of organizational coherence and convergence. Um we have several members of our team here who will be joining us uh for the presentation but also a lot of members of the team that have put in a lot of work behind the scenes. So I want to thank uh members of those teams uh as well or publicly. So, uh, just to outline to you the the presentation tonight, uh, we'll

006jump into, uh, discussing with you student and sharing with you student enrollment trends. Uh, we have Scott Hoy, our, uh, facility planning coordinator here with us tonight who will, uh, kick off the presentation with that information. Um, as well as long-term planning and considerations. Uh, we'll talk about the 14th high school considerations. I'll update the board on um estimates that we've received uh uh new uh and current estimates. Uh and then we'll get in Dave Beavers will take over with uh discussing with you some of the approved and proposed capital improvement projects. Uh we have Justin Moss with us here, our director of facilities, uh who's going to jump in and share with you some of the energy efficiency and sustainability measures in the CIP. And then uh Mr. Yousef will round it out at

007the end uh on impacts uh uh on the budget. So just quickly, Dr. McDade did a really nice job of framing this. Um as enrollments continue to decline, they're yielding significant capacity gaps at our schools. Um and these changes are going to lead to multiple future decisions about facility usage. Um we'll talk again, I'll share with you the estimated and updated cost. they have risen dramatically uh for the 14th high school due to several factors which we'll cover with you tonight. And then just to reiterate to what Dr. McDeade said, the big decision point uh moving forward on this CIP is really uh scenario A which includes the 14th high school or scenario B which includes uh discontinuing uh the 14th high school. And with that said, I'm going to go ahead and turn it

008over to uh Scott Hollyy. >> Good evening everybody. So, we're going to start with the student enrollment and long-term planning considerations. First, we're going to get a lay of the land of what we're currently seeing with enrollment. We're still seeing out migration from the Northern Virginia area. You see it along in like the Hampton Roads area. So, the two biggest metros, we're seeing out migration as along with declining birth rates. Over the last 10 years, we've seen birth rates decline by 750 births. In 2324, we saw 5,717 births in Prince County. So without migration and the declining births that is factors with population and how we're going to get students within our school system with our population pyramid on the right hand side. We see a large cohort at the very top in high school.

009There's currently 7,200 students in 12th grade and our kindergarten cohort this past year was roughly 5600 students which is roughly 1,600 students different from our 12th grade cohort. So, as these smaller cohorts metriculate through and knock out these larger cohorts, we're going to see declining enrollment. This past year, we saw our first grade cohort fall under 6,000 students, which is the first time since 2010. So, we've gone 15 years of seeing a cohort of first grade over 6,000 students. So, as these cohorts do continue to metriculate through, we're going to see smaller and smaller cohorts moving up to middle school and high school. Moving next to our new housing and constructions, looking at how many homes, new houses were built last year, we roughly had 1,500 new homes built. Um, projecting in the next three

010years, we're seeing roughly around 1,200 homes approximately in the low thousands area. Then you see a big uptick in 2029 through 2031. This is because that's when we start building into our projections the current resoning submitted applications. And these applications are currently undergoing uh resoning to move from let's say either A1 to R4 of how many homes they can build on these parcels of land. Something we did, we moved from a top- down approach to a bottom up approach last year in our projecting a projection model for new residential housing. And that has allowed us to let current developments produce their own yield. So, how many homes they're building via single family detached, single family attached or multif family attached homes. And that is something we do see and it's been helping for those developments.

011And for developments that do not have any current yield rates, we use the county average of all the homes that are being built at those levels to determine how many homes will be built. The difficult thing is the multif family attached units because sometimes they are rather larger. So we're only seeing an average of possibly 30 to 40 multif family homes as an average across the county, but a lot of those units are over 300 units when they are being constructed. So that's something we're looking to possibly enhance within our projection window for new housing. Looking at our historical and projected enrollment, this is PK through 12. Over the next five years, we're looking to decline by roughly 3,000 students. 2,981 to be exact for the next five years. And now looking at it within

012the elementary, middle, and high schools over this past year, K through 12, we had 86,943 students. And in SY30, we're projecting almost a 3,000 student decline. You see at the elementary school level, we have a consistent decline through the first four years and then a slight uptick in year five. Currently, we only have birth data through the first four years from the Virginia Department of Health. And then in the fifth year, we use our county demographer over with Prince William County government and we get the number of women age bearing 18 to 44 to help project how many bursts we could see in year five. His numbers have been slightly higher than what we've been seeing from the Virginia Department of Health, which is why we see a slight rise in enrollment in that fifth

013year. High school looks like it's declining through the seven years. For high school, we do project seven years because those students are within our schools already. And these are the second graders through 11th graders where we project. Then at the middle school level, you see the middle school is declining all the way down to 19,000 students approximately. And that is roughly 16,000 less or 1,600 less than we currently have today. Here is our short-term and long range projections. Here we use a linear extrapolation model to project outside the five-year window for a long range projection to see where we are going with Prince County Public Schools. At the elementary school level, we are seeing a dip of almost an additional 3,000 students over the course of the five years from 2031 to 2035. And at

014the middle school level, we're seeing it be a more consistent, actually a slight increase based off the historical numbers with the linear extrapolation. At the high school level, we are continuing to see a decline in enrollment through that next three years of the projection. Can I can I ask a quick question? On your slide eight, you said, and I don't know if this I'm reading this wrong, but 2025, which is this year, says 89731, but then you have later on that we have we have 86943 for this year. So, which is it? So 2025 on page eight says 89731 and then on slide 10 SY25 enrolled students which I guess is this year it says 86943 that's a difference of 2500 3 >> so that's our prek students so one is K through 12 and

015the historical enrollment is prek through 12. >> Oh I see. So, so PE. Okay. So, we have Oh, okay. So, this Okay. So, that's important. Um, so the page 10 is only kindergarten through 12 and page eight is prek, correct? But so, okay. So, all other charts though are K through 12, correct? Yes. All other charts are K through 12. >> Okay. Thank you. Moving forward, this past year we moved high school from planning capacity to program capacity. Planning capacity is how a building is in design and how it is being intended to use based off the design of the school. Program is how the building is currently being used by the principal based off the programs in the school, the special education programs, if there's preschool programs, and that is program capacity. This past

016year, we switched from planning to program capacity at the high school level, and we saw a decrease in capacity at the high school level of 168. A lot of those schools um are on the eastern side where we're seeing that decline. And even so, with that decline, we are still seeing the necessary space on the east side of the county even with the switch to plan our program capacity at the high school level. This is something we just wanted to point out that we did move that switch from planning to program capacity. Looking at the underutilized educational spaces and they are anticipated to increase over the next 10 years. In 2030 we almost have 12,000 vacant seats amongst elementary, middle, and high schools. In 2035 that does increase to almost 15,000 seats. This program capacity

017does indicate adding the additional capacities of the approved capital improvements from the FY 26 to 30 CIP book. So we would have the addition at Marceller, the Noville school, the PTOIC shores number two. Um it does include the 14th high school. Any of those approved CIP measures that were in the book last year are being reflected in that program capacity metric. Then looking at the underutilized educational spaces by east, west, and central. Looking at the program capacity, it's relative based off where the schools are located, it does merge the elementary, middle, and high schools depending on the east, central, and west. And looking at the space in 2030, we would have roughly 4,600 seats available in the east, about a thousand seats available in the central region, and about 6,000 seats available in the west.

018the good news that the central does have the least amount of available seats, but then it could have redistricting measures with the east and the west that could alleviate those pressures if necessary in those areas. Looking at the elementary school enrollment and considerations, we are looking at a decline in elementary school enrollment over the next five years and it looks like it's going to continue to 2035 based off our birth rates, how migration is currently uh trending in our area. In 2030, we look to have roughly 5,200 seats available, which would be seven elementary schools of space at the 750 design capacity school. Um, those vacant seats would give us a lot of future possibilities. We could look at consolidation. We could look at closures of schools and look how we could optimize our resources

019to make better use of the surplus space in these facilities. Um, we could, if we, this were to happen and these trends were to continue, we could repurpose those closed and consolidated facilities for student and admin needs such as universal prek, any pro programmatic needs, any specialy programs. Workforce housing is another thing that we've seen across the nation of how they're using some of these facilities that are closing. Our goal would be to maintain the high quality learning environments while using our space effectively across our division. Some of the trends we're seeing at the middle school level, we're seeing roughly two and a half middle schools of space in 2030, which roughly 3600 vacant seats. Um, with capacity pressures easing, we could create opportunities for realignment and redistricting if needed. Um, redistricting to balance the

020enrollment and potential consolidation if this trend does continue in the out years. Lastly, our high schools. Over the next seven years, we're looking at enrollment to decline by approximately 3,000 students. Of that, 1600 is at the high school level. As these smaller cohorts do continue to metriculate through, we're going to see the high school enrollment continue to decrease. If births are not starting to increase or we see more in migration to Prince William County, existing schools are projected to have a surplus of space even with the construction of the 14th high school. In 2028, we do see 1,200 seats across our division at the high school level. And then we add the 14th high school in, we jump to 2400 seats of available space. And then looking to 2032's projection, we have 3,400 seats available

021across our division at the high school level. Some future possibilities is looking at our specialy programs and our transfer policies and then possibly looking at countywide redistricting. And our goal is to sustain diverse opportunities for students while aligning facilities with our enrollment needs currently. So now after the enrollment portion, we're going to jump into our approved and proposed uh CIP measures for 27 to 31. Let me just pause here. Does anyone have any questions on this first part of the uh presentation? Okay. Uh Miss Wall, >> thank you. I had I had sorry I had a question on page 11 in our booklet which is high school planning program capacity. Um the the column that says planning capacity is that also for 2025 26 or is that for the 202425 school year? >> That was

022the 202425 school year. We have now a transition to program capacity this school year. >> Okay. Thank you. And th those for clarification, those numbers on page 11 are not how many kids are currently in the school. That's just what the capacity is. >> Correct. Yeah. >> It's the difference of the two capacities, >> but neither indicate the number of kids in the school right now. >> Yes. >> I have a followup. Oh, sorry. >> Okay. So, my follow-up is just to make sure I understood you. You said even though we moved to program capacity which reduced the number >> of seats available even with that we're predicting all of these changes all of the this impact of attendance. >> Correct. We're still enrollment. Sorry. >> Yeah. We're still indicating that there will be vacant

023seats with losing those 168 seats from that transition. So it's having no effect on the space we have available at the high school level even though we did lose seats. >> Okay. Thank you. Miss White, >> I'm just curious. A few of the same page, same 11. A few of the schools for the planning capacity is actually lower than the program capacity, which I just didn't expect. Do you Could you provide some context? Maybe >> it depends. >> I mean, it doesn't I can't I know you can't speak to each individual school, but >> a lot of it depends on what programs are in the school. Are there more maybe special education programs where the loading factor in those rooms may be smaller? Um you do have different specialy programs at all the schools which

024would have different loading factors. So you see generally 21 students for a general educational classroom at the high school level but you start getting into different specialties with OSHA standards you could be getting to like 15 students per class and that's where you see some of those decline in or increases in the program capacity at certain schools. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Appreciate >> one more question. Sorry not to get hung up on the whole program capacity. is new. >> Make sure I understand this program capacity the number. So I'm looking at Kan 2457. This means that based on the programs at Kan, they can accommodate 2457 students. >> Correct. >> Is that okay? >> Correct. Yes. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yeah. And just Kan for an example, we actually did a deeper

025study into Kan because it did have such a big increase. >> It's a big difference. >> Yeah. We looked at when portable classrooms started to come to Kan and it was roughly around that 25 to 2600 capacity number. They were operating in those low 2000s without portable classrooms. So that's another indicating factor that they were able to utilize the space within the building and that we were able to based off all the data we received and the courses that are being taught, we were confident in that number for Kan. >> Okay. Thank you. That's good clarification. So, starting with our renovations, um, we still have Graham Park, Vaughn Elementary School, Fredland Middle School, Woodbridge Middle School, Brenville District High School, Dale City Elementary School, and we're looking to add Hampton Middle School into the queue

026for our renovation projects. Brief overview. At the elementary school level, vaugh is currently in progress. The geothermal wells are being installed. The circular style styled wings of the school are going to be demoed and rebuilt into rectangular classrooms as they're more conducive for a learning environment for our students. The scheduled opening is delayed to 2029, but that's because it is a phased addition and with the demolition of the wings, it is a difficult renovation when students are within the building. Dale City Elementary is a renovation and addition. At this time, it's beginning the design phase, and we do not know the size of the addition yet. We're going to let the design and the location of that addition to determine how big that addition size is going to be. We're looking between seven and 15

027classrooms that will bring that school under 100% of capacity utilization. Next, we have our middle schools, Grand Park, Fredland, and Woodbridge. All these are either underway or anticipated to start in FY27 and are on schedule as the FY2630 CIP. Next is Brinsville and that is currently in the design phase and looking to kick off in FY 2027 and looking to be completed in the 2029 fiscal year. Lastly, our new school is Hampton and that was next in Q using our facility condition index. So, this renovation will include a full renovation of the existing building and added main office and office addition because their office is in two current locations within their building. So, that's going to bring the office staff all to one central location at Hampton. Next, looking at our CIP capacity projects, we

028have no new projects being added to this year's CIP. We have the Aquan Replacement School, the Woodbridge Area School, PTOIC Shores number two, the 14th High School, Pennington Traditional School, Washington Reed Preschool Center, the Noville School, Marcellar Middle School, and Dale City Elementary. Briefly discussing our CIP capacity projects. Currently, the Aquan Replacement School is anticipated to open in 2026. Immediate redistricting is not going to occur for the Aquan Replacement School. It's going to house the current students that are in the building and it's going to allow for other programs to come back to Aacoin. There's other students that are special education students, early childhood special education that go to different schools because the school did not have the space to accommodate those students. So, these programs are now going to be in the new school

029and we'll look in the future if redistricting is needed in surrounding schools. That's something we could look at at that time. Next, we have the Woodbridge Area School, and that is anticipated to open in 2026. The redistricting is currently underway and is being voted on by the board on February 4th. Um, currently, PTOIC view students are being proposed to move into the Woodbridge area school. In cahoots to that, we're actually looking at PTOIC Shores number two and doing that redistricting at the same time. And that's looking to relieve the overcrowding in the Cherry Hill area. You have Coington Harper, Patty Elementary, and other surrounding schools that are either right at or over capacity utilization. And the opening of PTOAC shores number two is going to alleviate that overcrowding in that area. Next, we have Pennington

030and Washington Reed. Pennington is an approved 10 classroom addition and is looking to be delayed one year. We are still having permitting issues with the city of Manasses as that permitting process is different than Prince William Countyy's permitting process which is delaying the addition. The addition will not give the school additional capacity, but it will help house the current students at the school. So, it's going to add general education classrooms. It's going to add a science lab. It's going to add special education classrooms for the current lottery students that are in the school. looking at the Washington Reed Preschool Center that is an approved 15 classroom addition and is still on track for the 2728 school year. This addition is help is intended to help the growing VPI population, our preschool students um ECSC and

031it's going to actually help if there is overcrowding in that central region in that east region some of those preschool programs can then move to Washington Reed which then will allow some of those capacities to increase on the eastern and central side of the county. Um, this is going to be a renovation as well and it's going to be an HVAC replacement, ADA improvements, and additional parking to accommodate the staff with that 15 classroom addition. Next, we have two projects that are in design, and that's the Noville school edition, which is an approved 10 classroom addition scheduled to open in the 2728 school year. And this proposed addition is adding to the K through five portion of the school, not the six through eight, but it is designed to be built for the middle school

032specs. So it could be used for multi-purpose. In addition, we have the more stellar 10 classroom edition and that is proposed to open in the 2829 school year and the goal is to add the additional classroom spaces and support spaces to help with the overcrowding at the Noville school in the new residential developments. along that V ventill corridor that are forthcoming. Our consideration is redistricting with looking in the 2027 school year to redistrict at the elementary and middle school level because of the Noville school being a K through eight. We would need to our goal would be to keep that boundary coincident and we would have to move students at both the elementary and middle school levels at that time. We could utilize space in Bull Run and Gainesville Middle School and look at possibly

033reduce the overcrowding at Reagan at that time too. We could better utilize this elementary schools in the Linton Hall corridor to bring those upwards of 80 and 90% of capacity utilization as we are seeing lower enrollment in that area. Next is our 14th high school overview and considerations and our 2630 CIP. It was approved as a 1,400 capacity high school and it was going to be scheduled to open in the 2930 school years. The schools intended to receive the overcrowding relief for the Eastern high schools and it was looking to include a robotics aquatic drone lab and a school-based clinic. Some considerations we need to look at are the net transfer rates that are contributing to the overcrowding at many of the schools. Osborne Park, for example, has 34% more students attending their school than

034are actually residing within their attendance area. And PTOAC has 24 fewer students than are actually zoned to the attendance area. So, we would want to look at our transfer policy and our specialy program policy to see how we could better accommodate some of what the overcrowding is occurring with our transfers and our specialy programs. When the school is slated to open, we are looking to have roughly a thousand seats of space amongst the 13th high schools we do have. And then in 203132, we would have upwards of 2,000 vacant seats um across our 13 high schools. Looking at the capacity of all of our schools, we are seeing a lot of capacity out on the western side of the county. And then looking at the all of our schools in totality in 2829 we have

0351,200 vacant seats amongst our 13th high 13 high schools. And looking in 2032 we would have upwards of 2,000 vacant seats in our 13 high schools. If we were to build the 14th high school, we would have 2400 vacant seats in 2930 and then upwards of 3,400 vacant seats in 20 3233. just looking at the seven schools that could be impacted by redistricting, we're only looking at 435 seats of overcrowding. But if we were look at countywide red redistricting, could we resolve all these issues without building the 14th high school? And that's where we get into our scenario A and B. And I want to pass it back over to Mr. Bach. Uh thank you, Scott. And I'll be covering with you uh updated cost estimates on this slide. So I want to call your

036attention to the left uh hands part of the slide with the table from FY2026 and you can see there we were estimating about 20 just a hair under 28 million for the building site and soft cost. The site acquisition that is a tangible asset that we do own. That was a $16 million acquisition. And you can see the total all-in estimate in the previous CIP was just a hair under 224 million. Um when we and actually that was all pre-esign. We were in the design phase with the DLR group. They uh this past year a full engagement effort to uh come up and and kind of solidify the design and now we have a design that we can respond to pretty confidently. That was a a pretty rough estimate uh pre-esign. Now we have a

037design and you can see the estimate um jumped up pretty significantly. And I want to call your attention to uh the table on the right. Uh the first column, Downey and Scott, uh that's a a leading uh construction management and estimation firm that uh is widely respected across the state of Virginia. We have an u a relationship with Downey and Scott. They certify all of our estimates in our CIP uh and we've used them. And when we we saw this estimate at 300 almost 350 million, we were we were surprised. But, you know, when we talked to Downey and Scott, this it it was really it came down to now we have a design that we can respond to. Uh how that design sits on the site and I want to call attention to the

038board. It is an extremely challenging site because the grade drops about 100 ft across the site. So, to situate a building on that site requires significant site work and you can see um it's almost 70 to 75 million of sight work. Typically a construction project for a high school, you might uh consider about 20 to 25 million for site work. And you can see that there's a substantial difference here. With that first estimate, we wanted to go out and and get additional independent um estimates because we were a little bit surprised by the price. So we asked the DLR group to uh reach out to a couple uh additional firms on our behalf uh and to manage that process for us. um independent of each other, they all came within about 3% of each other

039in cost, which is um an indication that it's it's very accurate. Um so these are the updated costs. Uh and you can see uh a pretty significant increase um in the project. So with that, now I'm going to turn it over to Dave Beavers who's or I'm sorry to Justin who's going to lead us through energy management um s sustainability initiatives in the CIP. Justin, >> thank you Mr. Bach and good evening members of the board. Uh my portion of tonight's presentation is relatively brief. Uh I'm sharing some of our updates for the upcoming CIP and FY27. Much of this information will be familiar to you as we was shared in your November uh meeting. However, what we did want to provide tonight was a list of the school-based projects by location. So our first

040slide is related to our LED upgrades. We are targeting 22 schools in FY27 and we're looking to really get out of the LED transformation uh retro retrofit business in the next couple of years. But we do have a significant pocket. These are the biggest priority target for us in terms of our energy conservation and efficiency and operations. So we really do want to install as many of these new LED systems as we can. What you're looking at on the slide, the uh the top black font represents the 22 schools for FY27. The lower portion in the blue font represents schools tied to the FY26 uh CIP. And then out to the right would be part of scenario B, additional school projects that we would target in this upcoming year. The next slide is related to

041our outdoor learning environments. This is a big project for us. This is one of our major focuses in Elevate 2030. We are looking and from a facilities perspective, one of our closest ties to the instructional learning. And so we really want to target these. We have many school projects underway. Uh notably is our Aquaan Elementary School which is currently installing an outdoor learning environment. But we are looking at 28 schools in FY27 and looking to target and uh customize each of these learning environments to the unique learning uh requirements of those schools. So we're really excited about this work and something that we really look forward to bringing you updates in the coming years. Next slide. We're looking at 41 retrocommissioning projects. Uh this is what I kind of call the under the hood work

042in facilities. This is when we go in and look at our building automation and HVAC systems and do a tuneup so to speak at midlife to ensure that it's operating correctly and that it's ex meeting its manufacturer's design life expectancy. However, as it pertains to the upcoming strategic plan, this is also a primary target for us to in facilities to look at AI and generative technology innovations to improve our efficiency in our operations and help our maintenance teams be more proactive and less reactive in our responses. The last slide I'm going to share with you tonight is our solar PV. We are looking at an additional six schools in FY27 to install solar. Just of note, any type of renewable energy, renewable energy projects, whether it's solar, whether it's uh geothermal, that's something that we

043will assess at every major project as part of the Virginia High Performance Buildings Act. So, it's something that we will assess for feasibility in every project that we approach. We are looking at six schools in FY27 and anticipate expanding that to more in future CIPs. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Yousef to close us out. It's my turn. Hi, I'm Dave Beavers. I'm with the budget department and I'm going to walk you through uh basically the highlights of the proposed CIP. This first slide looks at new projects we've added to the CIP and and the highlights therein. Uh if you'll start on the left hand side, you'll see the additions. Uh, in the additions category, we have $22 million that we've added to the Marstellar Middle School addition and HVAC

044replacement project. This additional funding will allow for the inclusion of geothermal there, and that'll greatly improve the efficiency of that system. Under renovations, we see funding increases for both Woodbridge Middle School renovations and Brentsville District High School renovation. We also see the inclusion of the Hampton Middle School renovation as Mr. Hollyy pointed out facility modifications include kitchen upgrades at both Kohl's Elementary and the Absco Elementary. These projects were developed in coordination with the school food and nutrition services department. We also see replacement of the press boxes at PTOAC High School and Woodbridge High School to address some structural integrity issues. The maintenance category includes roof replacements at Marceller Middle and PTOAC High School, significant sustainability investments in LED upgrades, outdoor learning environments, and solar photovoltaic arrays at six schools. We also see significant investment in

045replacing playgrounds at schools that are in these playgrounds that are in poorer condition. The life cycle replacement of school division equipment and assets will be a topic that we'll discuss further in the presentation. Please note that all of these projects are included in both scenario A and scenario B and I will discuss scenario A and scenario B right now. Uh the CIP is presented to you as two different scenarios. In the previous slide, we showed projects that are added to both scenarios, but scenario A includes $128.2 million in additional funding for the 14th high school. This additional funding is required for the project based on the independent review of plans to develop a more accurate cost estimate of $352 million. All told, scenario B contemplates the discontinuation of the 14th high school construction project. This

046reduces the cost to the CIP by $191 million. Having removed the 14th high school, new projects have been added which include constructing both east and west robotic centers. The East Robotic Center is proposed for Garfield High School and the West Robotic Center is proposed for Unity Reed High School. These facilities are planned as school additions to provide additional space for robotics learning. Several energy efficiency and sustainability measures are included in scenario B. These include adding geothermal to the Bull Run Middle School HVAC replacement project. critical building automation system upgrades at 25 schools spread over the five-year CIP window and LED upgrades at five additional schools. As shown, scenario A increases the CIP cost by 128.2 million. Scenario B decreases the CIP cost by 128.264 million. Thus, the overall CIP cost differential between the two scenarios

047amounts to a total of $256 million. Here we see the comparison of scenario A to scenario B within CIP project categories. Within the new construction category, scenario A exceeds scenario B by over $32 million, accounting for the inclusion of the 14th high school. Scenario B includes nearly $46 million more within the maintenance category, reflecting the investments there in energy efficiency and sustainability as well as HVAC improvements. Please note again the overall cost differential of $256 million between scenario A and scenario B. Here we're highlighting um new facility, excuse me, new facilities within the proposed CIP. We're showing several projects which are not receiving additional CIP funds, but which are soon to be completed. Also note at the bottom of this table are two versions of the 14th high school corresponding to scenario A and scenario

048B. Here we'll look at additions to the proposed CIP. We see an additional $22 million added to the Marstellar Middle School project for geothermal HVAC system. And we see at Pennington traditional, we see a date change to May 2029 due to the permitting challenges with the city of Manasses. With the Marstellar Middle School edition, the Pennington edition, and the Dale City Elementary edition, previously planned projects have now been rolled into the respective additions to accomplish all the projects at the same time, yielding greater efficiency and potential cost savings. The two rob robotic centers are shown here but are only uh applicable to scenario B. Here we see major renovations that are included within the proposed CIP. Please note that the updated completion date for Vaughn Elementary is now June 2029. Based on external independent review

049of drawings and plans, additional CIP funding is requested for both Woodbridge Middle School and Brentville District High School. The CIP also presents the inclusion, as we discussed, of Hampton Middle School for renovation. This renovation is scheduled for completion in 2032 at a total cost of $85 million. The proposed 20 FY27 CIP includes a standard turf life cycle replacement at PTOAC High School as well as the replacement of turf fields at middle schools over the next several years. There were seven turf fields that were installed at middle schools which was originally funded by Prince William County. By cooperative agreement, Prince William County schools will pay half of the cost to replace these turf carpets. So essentially, we're paying for three and a half turf fields and Prince William County will pay for three and a half

050turf fields. These fields are used by middle schools during the school day and then are available to the community for use at all other times as programmed by the county's parks department. For your reference, we've provided the turf field projects that we've included within the last two CIPs. These cover new practice fields at all high schools in FY26, as well as several turf field construction projects included in FY25. Here we see roof replacements and repairs within the CIP. We continue to monitor and replace roofs on a schedule that considers planned life expectancy as well as annually updated condition assessments. This year we've started a structured formal program to monitor and replace assets that we already own. We focused on five key asset categories as shown in the upper right portion of the slide. This program

051builds on existing asset replacement strategies, but puts in place a more strategic plan to address the full scope of school division assets. There are more asset categories to include, such as custodial equipment at schools and furniture at schools, but these will require further development for inclusion in upcoming CIPs. This first step represents a more analytical approach to monitoring and manage our existing assets to ensure that students and employees have safe and reliable equipment available for their continued use. It will also reduce the administrative burden on school principles, allowing them to more fully focus on their important jobs of leading student instruction. In summary, here we see the net impact to the CIP for significant changes by project type from the FY26-30 CIP. These projects from the last year's CIP whose funding schedule has progressed out

052of the CIP in FY27. Uh these progressions of funding for multi-year funded projects lead to a natural decrease in the cost of uh the new CIP. However, looking at specific categories, we see the impact of older projects progressing out and new projects being added to the CIP. In both scenarios, we see increases to major renovations, interior upgrades, minor renovations, equipment replacements, and roof replacements. In scenario A, we see an increase of 73.3 million for new facilities, a decrease of 25 million in additions, an increase of uh 446 mill 40 446,000 for HVAC projects, and 28.1 million for sustainability projects. In scenario B, with a discontinuation of the 14th high school, we see we see a reduction of $24.5 million in new facilities, but an increase of 39.4 million in HVAC improvements and an increase of

05333 million in sustainability projects. All right, with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Yousef for uh the last section. Thank you, Mr. Bez. Um this looks at the total CIB cost for both scenario A and scenario B and it compares it to our previous year CIP. Um overall uh when you look at scenario A uh the CIP increases by 282 million and in scenario B the CIP increases by 25.5 which is a smaller uh increase as compared to the 282 million and we do have the different categories in terms of our total CIP costs. More importantly, we look at the next slide which talks about how we fund our CIP. PWCS finance its CIP mainly through bonds which are reserved for largecale projects with asset useful lives exceeding 20 years. Projects with near-term and

054midterm useful lives and timelines are typically supported by operating cash. And in certain cases, we we do dip into our profits and and get uh funding through um profiters. Again, um scenario scenario A will require additional funding of $282 million and scenario B is much smaller at $25 million. So in summary, scenario A will require significantly ga greater resources for major capital project projects while scenario B provides a limited but targeted increase supporting fiscal discipline. Bonds as I said earlier on we issue bonds to fund most of our CIP. Uh scenario A will lead to the issuance of 239 million more in bonds over the next five years capital uh for our CIP. This represents a significant expansion of the division's borrowing capacity and potential increase in debt service obligations. On the other hand, senior

055OB will require $54 million less in bonds than previously estimated in the CIP. The reduction in borrowing would help limit the growth in outstanding debt and ease financial pre pressures associated with both with bond repayments. And just between the two scenarios, the the additional bonds are at 293 million. If scenario A is chosen, the next three bond issuances would total $923 million, which is approximately $37 million each. This would represent the highest level of bond sales in the past 20 years and it is unprecedented and would push the limits of Prince William County's debt capacity. And we have to be mindful that they do have projects too that they would like to fund and they they they use you know, they have to count both schools and and the and the county. Such significant increases

056in borrowing could create additional fiscal contra constraints and heightened importance of careful debt management strategies moving forward. In either case, we have to be very mindful of what debt we issue and how we repay it. Our debt service debt service refers to the payments made on outstanding bonds including both principal and interest. These payments represent a significant financial obligation for the school division and are essential factor in our long-term fiscal planning. We after all, as we issue bonds, we have to pay it back. Um, under scenario B, we we have $80 million in debt uh service savings as compared to scenario A. Um debt service is funded mainly through the county transfer which is the primary source for these uh obligations. Any increase in debt service payments will directly reduce the funds available for the

057operating budget potentially impacting day-to-day school operations and programs. So $80 million would definitely an increase over five years would be significant to our operator uh operating uh budget. So we reached this decision point for the school board in light of declining enrollments, rising estimated costs for the 14th high school. We implore and treat the school board to determine whether to proceed with constructing the new facility in scenario A or to discontinue the project in scenario B. That is really the crux of our CIP this year and it is a recalibration and reset that we are going through uh for this current fiscal uh year upcoming fiscal year. And finally, we have uh information of our CIP and budgeting timeline. Obviously, we are here today for the work session. On the 4th, the superintendent will present

058the FY2027 proposed budget NCIP to the school board. We have a public meeting on February 9th, 2026. Official public hearing on February 18th, 2026. Uh we do our school board work session for final markup on the FY27 CIP and budget on March 11th. The school board approves the FY2027 CIP budget and submits to the board of county supervisors on March 18th. uh the chair of the school board presents to the school board's budget to the BOCS on April 7th and by April 21st uh the board of county supervisors approved the FY2027 school budget. That concludes our presentation and we'll hand it back for any questions. >> Um Shaquille, real quick on this slide 46. Um so I understand scenario A over the long term four years five years we borrow 1.1 million billion scenario B

059815 million ex explain to me I don't know understand the green stuff on the fiscal change grand total 238 and grand total minus 54 what is that what am I looking >> so when you compare scenario A to what we had last year projected for bond sales last year >> oh I see so this from what we thought we were going to spend last year. So, so, so as I look at scenario A, 238 >> is more money than we thought we would spend last year. >> Correct. >> And scenario B, it'll be 54 million >> less than we thought last year over the course. >> Correct. >> How's it 54 mill? Shouldn't it be more than 54 million less? >> No, it's 869. It's the same. And we're doing 815. >> Okay. All right.

060>> So if you look at the difference between scenario A and scenario B vertically, that's 293 million. >> That I can see. I can see 300 million. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> I mean that's the real number. That's the real >> savings. >> Yes. >> But we're taking some of that 300 million and and doing some other projects with it. >> Correct. We are adding projects to scenario >> B. So that's why it's not a pure 300. Yeah. >> So the second question I have just I think for everyone to know just remind us when we do bond sales the bond the bond issuers and the people who buy our bonds expect us to use that money on new projects or are we allowed to use them on remodeling? >> So we typically

061use it for a combination of major renovations. >> Okay. >> And new projects because some of our renovations are essentially almost new if I can speak for that. What's a major renovation like? What what's an example of that? Like I don't know. Is that new classrooms in a school? Is that considered major renovations? >> Capacity enhancements when when a school underos a major surgery, if I can use that term, but I'll I'll ask Vern to add to that. >> Well, you're the money guy, but like a robotic center, is that new construction or is that remodeling in a small way? >> That's an addition. So, we could use bonded money for that. Yes. If it is, we anticipate the useful life of that particular addition to be more than 20 years. >> Oh, I see.

062Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So 20 years is because our bonds are are sold and paid over 20 year period. >> So that's really the key there. >> We use this thing over 20 years. Is it something capacity building? >> Is that right, Vern? >> Yes. >> Okay, >> that's correct. >> All right. I just wanted to be clear on that because I I know you you've sort of slapped my hand in past years on trying to borrow money for renovating or remodeling smaller stuff or like a series of small things like if I wanted to remodel 20 small things at 5 million each is that something you know we typically look at operating cash to do those. >> Okay, questions. Miss Williams, >> I don't have a lot of questions. I just um want the

063outdoor spaces that we're looking at. Should we do that? Um I would just like to put in a request that we're mindful of the employees who are currently doing that type of work in within buildings and utilizing their expertise. Um because I know we do a group a lot of opinions are involved, but I know we have some really successful stories right now. Um so I just made wanted to make sure we captured that. um any of the renovations that we're doing on elementaryaries. Do we have a a list of current elementary schools that don't have like lab well I know we're doing the mobile labs so music space or as we renovate those those are the two things that we're also keeping in mind. Correct. >> Absolutely. We we are addressing that and through

064some of the renovations where we don't have like a string space we are adding string spaces specialty spaces adding spaces for ESL uh and being mindful of that. So, absolutely. And to address the your question or comment about um engaging with folks at schools who are champions of outdoor classrooms, we're definitely engaging with those folks, making sure we hear their voice, how they are currently utilizing those spaces and what enhancements we can make to those spaces. So, we're definitely going to going to capitalize on those champions and build them into the process. >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. Um and then it the option for us um to have robotic spaces depending on which way it goes. Love that. Um and there those robotic spaces would be used like for tournaments so they'd be

065tall enough for drones and all of our programming. >> Yeah. to in the in the 14th high school design. That's how it was designed to um also be leveraged for the school space during the day, but also have other schools utilize that during the day and and even after school hours. So, we would anticipate that in scenario B where we're proposing the two additional robotic centers, making sure that they're available for competitions designed first to be able to accommodate that, but also uh making those available for other schools to um to have that advantage. >> Okay. And then um along the same lines as we have space available in our buildings, one of the things that I do know because robotics is my life now. We don't have spaces in our buildings. So oftent time

066teams have to like pack up everything and they're sharing a space with something else. So as we have the ability to have space, um I'm just asking facilities to maybe work with schools to have mindful spaces for that. Um especially as the program continues to grow because I'm adding more programming into robotics. So that's the thing that I hear the most. Practice space is not available or it's being taken for other programs, which is fine, but it looks as if we'll have space moving down. So just ask be mindful and keep that in mind. >> Yep. Um I don't know if that could be added to some sort of index, but I know you guys have wonderful ones. And then my last one is um >> regardless of the scenario, can we please make sure

067like will we have any more LED lights to replace? I had to put a joke in there about LEDs because either scenario has them, but I noticed if we do we don't do the high school, there's additional schools. If we do, then there's a set amount. Will this will that be the end of it? >> Um Justin, I think that closes us out. It's it's pretty darn close. Uh because I think in scenario B, we pick up six additional sites. But Justin, you want to comment on that? >> Yes, I've made it my personal mission to close out LED upgrades in the next two years. Uh I'll I'll look into it and let you know if there are any lingerers and we'll try to add them. >> Thanks. Thanks. What are we without our humor?

068But that the robotic space is really important as we can because we're adding like IQ and a few other programs. So, thank you and thank you Justin. >> Miss Wall, >> thank you. Uh, thank you very much. This presentation is awesome. Um, lots and lots of information. Um, not as fun of a CIP hearing the high costs and um, the falling enrollment, you know. Um, but I have a couple of questions on author page 38 and 39. Um, I believe I did ask this before, but maybe it would be helpful for the benefit of anyone listening. Um, the the cost for renovations have dramatically increased from past years. Um, you know, like 2020, 2021, 2022. Um, and so I I think it would be helpful maybe just kind of put that out there why um

069it's costing I mean, you know, 79 Fredlin, 74 million Vaughn, 85 million Hampton. Just kind of put that in context in case individuals are going to wonder like why are we this is this is such a big cost for renovation. Used to be that you could build a middle school for this amount. Um, so that's my first question um that I think people might want to hear about um and have eliminated. And then my other question was um on page 39, I'll just put them two both out here. Um the fiscal year's 26 CIP high schools new practice turf fields. I'm reading that that all of the high schools are going to get a practice turf field. We're going to bring that up to like an equitable distribution of turf fields for practice fields. >>

070I thought you might ask that. Um and that was that was in the So I pulled up last year's CIP so I could address that quickly. Um we do we have 26. we bring we um add two turf fields into the mix or or refurbish 27. So over the next four years to 2029, we're refurbishing eight uh high school turf fields. And those were prioritized because they're they're pretty close to their life cycle. And um and uh also that was that $24 million item that we put in there at in FY26 that was planned in that year's CIP. So yes, we have eight of those practice fields being addressed. >> Great. And I know last year I think we detailed which ones they were. It's not in this >> obviously. I'm interested in the one

071high school in my district. >> Which uh which year would you >> which is battlefield 2029. >> Oh I thought it was sooner. >> It was it's 29. That was in last year's CIP. >> Okay. Okay. Um wow. Okay. >> I thought it was like 2027. >> I'll double check, but I'm I'm showing 29, but we'll I'll double check for you. >> Okay. Um Yeah, my recollection is that there was a facility assessment done and like age of when it was I can't remember >> any one more time. >> I I I in the CIP it was like far out and then it was I asked that to be evaluated and then it was re-evaluated and moved up. >> I could in full disclosure maybe looking at an older version of that we did adjust.

072>> Miss Wall is correct. when we went back and did the evaluation, Battlefield was one of the oldest and so that's how Battlefield got moved. So, you are correct in fact that we addressed that last year. >> That's what I thought. >> And I can confirm. >> Let's just make sure that everybody >> It's sooner than 29. I thought it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's let's confirm that when you got a chance. >> We'll do. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> I'm I'm um advocating for my district. Most of this is happening in different parts of the district, which is fine, but there are there are just a few little things here and there, some LED lights and a few things that our Gainesville district, but that's a big one that the community would really value. Um,

073okay. And then I think I guess I'll I didn't have any other questions, but I do appreciate the cander on the costs and the bonds and everything else. And I I I really do take that seriously and I um think we need to really think heavy long and hard about the financial implications of the two scenarios. So I do appreciate all the work and laying it out for us and helping us understand what's at stake from a financial standpoint, from a reputational standpoint, fiscal reputation standpoint, and just, you know, wise use of resources. So I appreciate the team on all of this. Thank you very much. So, just to remind the board and then we'll go to Lisa. Um, many of you have been briefed on this presentation prior to this meeting. Uh, this is

074again another time to take a look at it at next week's schoolboard meeting on board matters on for information and further discussion is scenario A and scenario B. And then um and and certainly if you can think of questions, concerns you might have more than what you've already had, you can share them with the administration and staff. We'll hear from them next week at the schoolboard meeting. So it'll be fully public again on this discussion. and then coming back to the first meeting in February, the board is expected if they have not done it yet, which there's no hurry to do it tonight or to do it um next week. But that first meeting in February, we have to make a decision on scenario A or scenario B uh to move forward with the final

075budgeting process. So, you have some time to take a look at it. Certainly hear from your constituents on that. Certainly feel free to ask your questions. Miss Zarapore. >> Oh, sorry. really quick. >> The question I asked, do you want to answer that now about h the middle school renovations or do you want to push it off? >> Yeah, we can come back. >> You can come back to it. Okay. Thanks, >> Miss. >> All right. Thank you. um not in these um in ren any renovations, but something that does come up from time to time and I'm wondering how we handle it is at there are times when I've visited some of my elementary schools and they will have some special needs kids, a runner perhaps, very young children, uh and they would like

076fences around playgrounds. How how do principles advocate for that? And and and what's the process for that look like? because that's obviously not going to be a a million-dollar project, but it's a safety concern and yeah, so that's my question. Yeah, we we um have a policy and a regulation in place for principles that if they're seeking a modification to their site, they would submit a work order. A team from facilities would go out and investigate the site, uh uh bring in permitting, engage with the county on permitting, and then we would circle back with the school of any costs that it may uh be incurred at the school level or through facilities. So, um just to just to answer the question on fencing around playgrounds, we have entertained that with county code. Uh it

077is problematic for egress to fence in a playground because they do need to be able to have an exit from the playground should an emergency occur and to have it fenced in with four sides with with a single point of entry is problematic and and code would not permit us to do that. >> I did not think about that. Thank you. Then my last question about playgrounds. Um, I remember when we were first on the board, um, um, Adele Jackson was, uh, wanted to make sure that we had, um, accessible playgrounds and I know we put something into so so as we are looking at any renovations, we're going we're still keeping with that plan. Right. >> Absolutely. We as as we renovate elementary schools, we are uh, renovating the playground to in include universal

078design. >> Thank you. I I've also seen students who will have temporary um walkers or something with wheels and um in different spaces and the they often cannot access anything where there is um mulch. So are we thinking about because that can happen at any time. People can have an accident or a temporary need. It may not be permanent but um I have seen kids sort of limited to black tops before. So, that's a concern about the mulch, too. >> We do use a product on our playgrounds. It's not mulch. It's it's engineered uh product called Fibar, and it does meet ADA requirements uh for students with mobility issues. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Will. >> Yeah, thank you so much. I don't really have a lot to add to this. I do appreciate the

079presentation and the breakdown. >> No, go ahead. >> I do have asked. I'm more specific this year. I'm not just going to be broadly about give me something for Dumpries. Can you guys give me a quote? Not for me personally, like for me to buy, but um on a climate controlled storage facility and a new refrigerator for uh Dumprey's Elementary. >> Sure, we can look into that. >> Thank you. I'd appreciate that. Um, and then talking about program capacity, I do like hearing that schools with the expansion of the prek will also be looking to take some of the classrooms out of the um on-site programs. You know, it is a, you know, misperception from some I've heard come speak. You know, although, you know, Patty has two prek within the building that has no

080ability to alleviate a 200 student over capacity. Um, so you know, but in the future though, those two rooms being across the street could possibly be prime opportunities just to have some additional space. But that's all I have to say. So, thank you all so much tonight. Miss M, >> I just want to say thank you, Scott. I think you did a great job. Not that everybody else didn't, but Scott, you know, Scott did a great job. Um, I I appreciate the thought going into Noville Elementary School and utilizing that. um for different purposes, possibly middle school um adjacent because it's, you know, everything's growing, everything's moving around um in the Brensville district. So, I appreciate the thought going into the future planning and you know, I love hearing the word redistricting because I think

081it solves all of our problems. So, thank you guys for that and I appreciate this great presentation. Again, >> Dr. Latif, can I clarify one thing? Miss Wall, I I apologize. I was looking at an earlier version of the CIP and Vince is sitting behind me, our supervisor of construction. He has confirmed for me that fall of 2026 will be the battlefield turf pra uh practice field. So my apologies fits better with my memory. It also fits better with what I've told my community. >> Yeah. >> Which you're good. So my my apologies. So >> Okay. Thanks. I >> And that is this fall 26, right? >> Yes. Okay, Mr. Jesse. >> Well, I I feel like the person is getting get a beat up on this one. Uh we delayed the 14th high school

082and sort of ironic that uh we're at where we are now. But uh just a couple questions. We paid 16 million for the land. What are we going to do with the land? So, we still, you know, that's something we have to decide and I'm there's there's a process of how we sell and obtain proceeds uh from the sale of our property, specifically land. I'm going to punt it to Mr. Anderson if he wants to provide some additional information. >> Sure. I mean to me it's several steps down the road because you got to once the once the board makes a decision depends on whether we have the land or not have the land. So if we've got the land and Mr. Yousef is correct that were we to decide to sell it uh we

083have to ask the county for permission to keep those proceeds uh from the sale. Um and there may be other some but but obviously it could be repurposed for other uh projects if there were projects that we thought should be placed there. Right. So, um, I don't think discussions have been made about what to do with it because we don't know whether it's even going to be available depending on what the board's guidance is. The other question I have is somewhat related to the board of supervisors. Uh, I think it's a summit road uh revamping that they're doing now and it is a I don't know how much that cost, but it's probably a big big cost. So, uh I don't know if they're going to feel somewhat uh we're saving a lot of money

084as you say, but they have also expended a lot of money because that that road is probably in a position now that they can't stop. They're going to have to finish it. So, Mr. Jesse, we're uh we are already participating in the those road improvements uh from a financial standpoint. Uh school division has a number of requirements for the entry into the site. So, we've uh come to agreement with with the county in terms of those road improvements and we're paying for those. So, uh it's on a limited basis, not a significantly uh large number, but we are participating in that project. Um, so you know, if you listen to the last schoolboard meeting, I sort of ended the meeting with my concerns as, you know, as chairman of things that I worry about on

085a daily basis. And things that I continue to worry about are, you know, what I call headwinds and challenges that we're going to face moving forward as a school division. tonight and and we did live stream this meeting because we I I felt and the board felt it's extremely important for the public to be very aware keenly aware of the challenges the school divisions face and pages 12 and 13 scream you know our enrollment drop u over the next five to six seven years um and and it is a significant drop it is close to I think uh what was it like about 5,000 kids what is Vern. >> So almost 6,000. >> Almost 6,000 total. Yeah. >> Yeah. So about 6,000 kids. Um you're looking at about 7 to 8% maybe 8% of the

086entire school division. Um you know when you lose kids that means we close classrooms. When we close classrooms, we have under capacity. As pointed out in the um program capacity and and discussions earlier, when you have less, you know, you're underutilizing capacity, you have less classrooms, you need less employees. And I think it's very important as the largest employer in the county and one of the largest in the state that we be absolutely transparent with everyone that as we are losing students, we will have to shrink our workforce if this comes to fruition, which based on the projections and the trends so far looks like that's happening. We're making a tough decision on the redistricting coming up in the next few weeks on on closing an elementary school which has never been done in the

087county uh in in in recent times and it is important for the public to be well aware of where we are and the challenges the school board, the administration and our community faces um as we look at these things. I you know when when the school division I think the the discussions to build the 14th high school even begun prior to 2018 when I got on the board um and it was something that at the time based on the projections we saw then we needed we were we were bursting at the seams at many of our high schools. If you look at pages 12 and 13 of this so so so that's number one I think it's important for the public to realize we have significant challenges of enrollment. Number two, you know, whether we

088build the new high school with scenario A or we don't in scenario B, we will be faced with significant high school redistricting, the thing that people in this county least will like to see um and is among the least popular things a school board has to do, and that's redistricting. And under every scenario, whether we build it, whether we don't build it, um whether we delay it, redistricting must happen. And if you take a look at the capacities of our high schools, we have to make some changes. And so there will be some tough decisions coming up in the next few years by this school board and the next school board on what we do with that because we have to do that. and and and the data here screams redistricting because if we can

089redistrict, we can really do a lot of great things as far as balancing capacity, balancing our our our employees needs and and and and potentially, you know, addressing our workforce needs or, you know, needs or or maybe not having to reduce the workforce as much. And so those are significant things that matter. These all cost real dollars. their taxpayer dollars and we as um board members are, you know, charged with making sure the taxpaying dollars are spent in a responsible way. And I think as we look at scenario A and B, each board member has to make that, you know, decision of of where we look to go. This new high school at the cost we're estimating down here, even at the lowest cost, you're looking at close to um $230,000 per seat in the

090high school. I don't I had asked in my briefing, what is the average per seat cost for a high school in the United States? Do we know that answer? >> What I did, Dr. Latif, is is we looked locally in Northern Virginia, and we do have a benchmark um that uh in Lowden County, and roughly we looked at all-in construction cost, and for their high school, they were looking at about $780 a square foot allin u permitting everything. and with our 14th high school and they're building their 14th. So our 14th came in at about 1,63 a square foot. So almost $400 north of what they were paying for in Lowden. >> But did you do a calculation on per seat cost? >> We we did not do the per seat. We did. >> Can

091we do that next time because I asked for Okay, thank you. Um so so just based on our numbers if you compare now Kan was built many years ago. um based on their cost in my sort of rough calculations that was um that was around $25,000 per seat. Um uh or no my what what did I do here? Hold on one sec. I get this right so I don't screw this up. It was significantly cheaper. It's about 10 times the cost now. Obviously it was 57,000 per seat at Kan. This would be theoretically 220 210,000. Uh, I don't know what Gainesville would be, but it it's just a a number of, you know, what this would cost, but more importantly than the cost, because I've had no problems, as everyone knows, spending money um, as

092the school board chair, I have zero issues with that for needs that benefit our students. Um, but, um, as we look at, um, the construction cost uh, relative to our needs, it it does not make a lot of sense. Um, and then when we talk about redistricting, and I appreciate Mr. Troenics, Mr. Trodenik's um, uh, enthusiasm for it, I would also caution, you know, with that enthusiasm comes, um, the idea that we need to entertain all options. And, you know, I'm going to say all the unpopular things because that's my job. and and even based on not building the new high school, the vacant seats at the high school level remain at a level that that's one high school. It's about 1,700 students. We could shut down a high school and have same capacity. So,

093we could theoretically not build this high school and shut down a high school, save a lot of money. What I also didn't hear tonight, which I'd like to hear, Vern, at the next meeting, is what you've told us is the cost of building a high school and with the savings of building a high school, Mr. Yousef. What is the cost of operating a high school on a yearly basis? Because that's also the savings we'll have if we don't build this high school is the cost of operating a building, heating it, cooling it, LED, lighting it, you know, all of that drama that goes along with it. um that that is savings as well because what you've talked about savings today is just construction savings. It's not the operation savings of an actual high school. So

094I think that's really important for everyone to understand as well as they make this decision. Um but when it comes to redistricting, so I said something radical about possibly closing a high school, which I which I don't think we we we do, but but you never know. Um I look at things like the Noville school K through eight. Does it make sense to have a K- through8 school there? Should that be made a full middle school or a full elementary school? And do we do something else out there? I am very open to, you know, changes that address the needs of our students and make sure that, you know, we have capacity and um proper utilization across the board uh and and that we offer the best um facilities and options for our students. So,

095there is nothing that's off the table for me. And we have really serious serious things that we have to deal with. There's an economy that's not going to be as good as it has been the last 10 years. We don't know what our funding is going to look like moving forward. We don't know if we can continue spending the way we've been spending on, you know, a variety of different things. And so I think we have to be very considerate of these things as we make these big decisions. And I appreciate the new strategic plan which talks about, you know, one of the ways to utilize and you mentioned it here in the project in the presentation, universal prek. You know, we could add 5,000 kids to the the division by doing universal prek, filling

096up seats that we need uh that we have capacity for and and and potentially keeping teachers uh folks employed that we might otherwise not not need uh if we continue to see this thing. So these are sort of and I apologize this board weighs what to do. These are the serious things we have to consider as we make a decision moving forward on not just scenario A, scenario B, but on this year's budget and how this board wants to move forward and with what strategic plans we want to do with the strategic plan, what what ideas we want to fund. So with that, um, Mr. Jesse, >> I appreciate all your comments. Uh, a couple things to keep in mind. Also, uh, the cost of doing things has drastically increased lately and it's probably going

097to continue to increase for a while. So, that's part of the factors that we've looking at. But, I do have a concern with prek, universal prek. Where in the heck are we going to put all these people? Because the in the pre in our elementary schools and so forth right now it is very difficult because my understanding every prek room has to have a restroom. So that's very difficult and I don't you know we're talking about money going out the I believe in universal prek. I'm just not sure where in the heck we're going to put all these kids when we do that. So uh that's a concern I have going forward uh here. Thank you. >> We will come to the board with a full proposal on universal prek. We are looking at um

098all everything from our market share of um school age children that would qualify for prek as well as building um capacity. As you see, we have plenty of capacity. if we redistrict um we can solve some of the the concerns that you're talking about, but we will I don't want to prematurely um put anything out there because we just launched the strategic plan. It hasn't even been voted on yet. So, we don't even know um where the board will end up uh on universal prek until the the vote uh is approved for the strategic plan. So I think it's premature to talk about um any plans for anything that the board has not yet approved. But once it is if it is approved, we will have a full comprehensive proposal that will be driven by

099research and studying what um has occurred throughout the country on universal prek and put something forward that is responsible that takes into consideration all of the factors. >> I would just think that if we're going to vote on a prek, we need the information before we vote. I'll leave that to the board to decide what you would like to do, but it is not possible to. Yes, we can do universal prek. There'll be many different scenarios on how we deliver on that. It's not going to be a one-sizefits-all, but looking at the data that you saw today, we certainly have capacity within our school system to take in more students, and it would support and in some ways stop some of the hemorrhaging of just like Matt said before, students do come into the district.

100He gave the scenario of the the faucet being on, but the drain is still open. um we are not capturing students that we could capture that would do not come to our school system because they start somewhere else in preK. So this is an opportunity just like we have mitigation strategies for um you know underutilization redistricting is one of them. Having universal prek is another opportunity for us to bring in additional students into our school system. So I think it's a viable option that the board should definitely consider. Miss Wall >> uh along this same train of thought um I was looking at the data um from the VDOE on homeschool students and religious exemption students and that's also on the rise in Virginia um and it has been on the rise in Prince William

101as well. So, those are also students that maybe they've opted out, but if we could do something different or better or somehow we could maybe try to capture some of those students and bring them back in if we provide if we listen to why they left and how we can bring them back in. I think it was something like 3,000 students or something like that potentially in Prince William. I can't remember exactly. It was under three. It was under 3,000, but I think it was around 25 2,800 or something like that. um students who have opted to homeschool in Prince County. >> Well, we don't know the exact number. We'll but we'll have it prepared for the next meeting. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Blake. >> Thank you. Thanks for the presentation as well.

102I do have one question or just point out like so this 300 like 350 million, right? It's for only a,400 seat school. Not even a fulls size high school. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. That would that's my only question. All right. Thanks. >> Yeah. I mean, look, this is um we have some tough choices. Um I think there, you know, I I I think Mr. Jesse's correct, right? Costs will continue to go up. If you're going to build this high school, this would be the time to build it. I wouldn't, you know, and but but I think you have to take a look at um you know, do we need the high school? Um I you know I'm in the position of um as you heard considering you know do we keep all

103our high schools you know um and and and are there schools that we can sort of reduce in size and save money and uh all with the eye to improve student performance and so in the end whatever decisions we make I I have made the decisions based on what I believe will improve student performance across this division. Universal prek is well known to be something that drives student performance incredibly and it's the cheapest investment one can make to improve student performance in the long term. It's uh long overdue and I think Prince William County being the only school division in the Commonwealth to do it independent of whatever Richmond or Washington DC decides to do or not decides to do because we can't wait for them. Um offering high quality prek programs and I think

104Dr. Dr. McDade's had the experience of building highquality prek all day programs, not all day, full-time, what do we call full day programs in the city of Chicago. Um, we know that they they have significant benefits. And and and like I said earlier, I have no problem spending a dollar if someone can prove to me that dollar goes to improving student performance. And if that does it, I have no qualms to borrow it, to use it, to spend it, operating cash on that to make that happen. And so I think that's important, but we have a lot more discussions on this. I encourage the board to hear from their constituents. Um, and then and then I appreciate everyone's time tonight. And then with that, I think I will adjourn this meeting. >> Thank you.