$74M for two elementary schools where the district already owns the land? I am sure an innovative person could reduce those costs by 1/3 and still meet all requirements.
Take a look at some of the charter schools in the region and their facilities. They are focused on education, not on the "total school experience" with professional level sports facilities.
The district could save the 10% architect fee by just duplicating the last elementary school built!
By the way - school enrollment is only increasing by about 220 students/year out of a 11,000 student population. How about adding just classrooms to the existing school campuses? Does that make too much sense?
Why isn't the maintenance of existing buildings a line item in the annual budget? $19.5M for maintenance? Don't school administrators understand they need to have a fund to repair and replace aging infrastructure? The private sector does that all the time and even organizations like homeowner associations are required to establish such a fund.
It is unconscionable to ask voters to approve $15.5M for a swimming pool. YMCAs and other similar organizations have built community swim facilities for the past century without taxpayer funding. If the people of Georgetown want a swimming pool, let them raise the funds privately to build and operate the pool!
Time for financially astute citizens to get involved with GISD to focus on education, not fancy facilities!!
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