Columbus City Schools is starting discussion about building its first new building in a decade as it looks to close others, outlining a vision of the future of the district.
At a Sept. 17 joint committee meeting, district administrators proposed a timeline for building new schools and also proposed six additional school closures and consolidations. In an interview with The Dispatch, district administrators laid out the plan as a part of a far-reaching vision to modernize CCS facilities and rethink how the district is oriented.
The discussion around a new build and additional closures comes after the school board voted in September to approve making an additional $50 million in cuts by December, which would bring the total budget cuts for the district
to $100 million over the past two years. Part of those cuts, board leaders said, would be additional school closures.
Board Member Jennifer Adair, who led the Sept. 17 meeting, told The Dispatch that the information presented by the administration during the meeting was the most strategic vision she has heard about the future of the district yet.
"We're far from like at any ending point, we are going to vote on many things, lots of community discussions and all of that," Adair said. "But the main idea – I haven't heard it as strategic and future-forward from the administration as I did during that meeting."
Administration floats new elementary school, potential new South Side high school
The last new building the district constructed was Africentric Early College, which was completed in 2016.
To finance a proposed build, the district could set aside money from its existing permanent improvements levy approved by voters in 2023, which gave CCS over $60 million a year for facility maintenance and improvements. The district would also be eligible for 30% matching funding from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to help finance the construction.
Adair said that is exactly why "we went out and asked our community for that levy."
"This whole community knows we need new buildings," Adair said. "And so it really is about being able to strategically utilize that pool of money."
Alex Trevino, director of capital improvements, said the district has spent its permanent improvement money primarily on "lifecycle extensions" of existing facilities. Trevino said new builds, coupled with consolidation, will help lower the average age of the district's buildings and offer the district an opportunity
"We've got to get new construction moving at some pace," Trevino said.
The initiative to build a new school won't happen overnight. According to the presentation, if the district decides to start the process of building new schools in 2026, a new school building could be online by 2030 after a planning, funding and construction process.
Building a new elementary school would cost about $35 million in 2026, Trevino said. A new elementary school, he said, would be twice the size of the average existing elementary school. Generally speaking, the district's high schools are modern middle school-sized, and the middle schools are elementary school-sized.
While a site has yet to be determined for a new elementary school, one option is the current site of West Broad Elementary, which the board authorized to close once it had identified an ability to construct a new school.
Administrators also talked about a future, larger consolidated high school on the city's South Side. That would involve consolidating Marion-Franklin and South High Schools and moving Buckeye Middle School to the site of South High School – and then constructing a larger high school.
Russell Brown, chief of strategy and performance, said that if the plan moves forward as presented, "everything on the South Side has been modernized." Larger buildings with higher enrollment potentials, Brown said, will allow the district an opportunity to offer more resources at their schools.
"And you've got the blueprint or the vision of what this system would look like," Brown said. "Larger middle schools, modernized facilities for all our elementary students standardized grade bands, and a new high school. And then it becomes how do we progress around the city in a similar 'wash, rinse, repeat.'"
District administrators are scheduled to return to the committee in October and present a funding strategy for new construction.
What schools might close or consolidate?
At the Sept. 17 meeting, district officials recommended six additional closures and consolidations the board would need to approve:
- Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys and Columbus Preparatory School for Girls - Close both schools and repurpose the facility.
- Highland Elementary School - Close the school and repurpose the facility.
- Siebert Elementary - Close the school, would require board action
- Mifflin Middle School and High School - Close Mifflin Middle School building, close Mifflin High School and move Mifflin Middle School students into existing high school building.
The committee also discussed boundary changes for schools already approved for closure, mergers and where programs like Columbus Alternative High School and Columbus Gifted Academy will be relocated.
Brown said that he didn't want to "underplay" the challenges of asking people to change, but said the proposed moves will ultimately offer better experiences for students.
"So now that we're talking about new construction, let's have more students served in the best educational environments that we can with student populations that support robust programming, really leaning into the future," Brown said.
District outlines vision of the future
Chief Operating Officer Maurice Woods told The Dispatch that the current discussions are about how the district can invest in buildings in a more strategic way.
"So that we see a return on that over a longer period of time, benefitting more students in their neighborhoods," Woods said. "Sometimes you have to consolidate so you can get those economies of scale and make those investments a little bit more strategic to deliver on that vision."
Woods said the district needs to be careful about not getting "too far out in front of ourselves" in terms of planning without engaging the community.
"There still has to be an element of engagement, we still have to bring that community voice," Woods said. "We don't want, at this point, to be saying this is exactly what the footprint's going to look like."
Brown said the new plan shows a new model for the district as the city and region grow, and as the district expands its focus on career and workforce education with its "academy" models.
"If you build stronger learning communities in neighborhoods feeding into high schools, I think it builds a compelling piece that your workforce partner should be excited about and want to lean into," Brown said.
Adair said that she thinks these discussions "show the community what the district is capable of."
"I think we we are ready," Adair said. "The dialogue in the committee was: 'Well, is the district really ready for this? Can you handle all these building projects? Can you handle this consolidation?' And the answer is yes – and we have to."
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Schools eyes first new building construction in over a decade
