Preliminary work to expand Goochland County's elementary schools could begin as early as the summer if the School Board decides on construction plans.

For the coming fiscal year's budget approved this month, the Board of Supervisors held tax rates steady and declined to fund new construction for the next school year despite enrollment pressures and aging facilities.

School Board members subsequently asked for a $7.8 million supplemental appropriation to add classrooms and multipurpose rooms to Byrd and Randolph elementary schools. The county will have to borrow the money for those projects by issuing bonds if they're to begin within the next year, the supervisors said at a special meeting this week.

The supervisors tabled the matter and asked school officials to include an updated estimate to expand Goochland Elementary as well, said County Administrator Gregory K. Wolfrey.

The School Board wants a new elementary school, preferably one to replace Goochland Elementary, in addition to expansions at the two other schools. To do that would cost about $33 million, and the supervisors have said that such a project would have to be put to voters in a bond referendum.

If school officials opt to put off plans for a new school and instead expand the county's existing schools, the supervisors would fund preliminary engineering work and pay it back by issuing bonds through the Virginia Public School Authority in November, Wolfrey said.

Expanding the three existing elementary schools and building a multipurpose room for each would cost about $15 million.
Contact staff writer Calvin R. Trice at ctrice@timesdispatch.com or (540) 574-9977.