Rising Costs Imperils School District's Deferred Maintenance Plan

4/15/2024

Anyone who needs concrete evidence that delaying costly facility maintenance only leads to even more costly maintenance projects need look no further than Duval, County, Fla. 

Strained by budget overruns, Duval County school officials are weighing closing dozens of schools whose futures seemed certain in 2020 after voters approved a half-penny sales tax for building improvements, according to the Florida Times-Union. 

The closings could eliminate two high schools and shutter much-loved grade schools, and a looming gap in construction funding that could total as much as $1.4 billion is pushing members toward distasteful options.   

The threatened buildings were all slated for work, varying from ordinary maintenance to total replacement, that was part of a $1.9 billion facilities initiative dubbed the Bold Plan the board adopted in 2019 that relied partly on the sales tax. A number of other schools already were scheduled to close as part of the plan, which tries to deal with the deterioration of aging schools and decreasing enrollment countywide. 

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School officials have been revisiting that initiative since last fall after costs for the first projects funded by the sales tax finished so far over budget that completing the entire work list was recalculated to cost $3.9 billion — more than twice the price voters heard before approving the tax. 

Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.