March 9, 2006
RALEIGH — Voters statewide will likely face votes on more than $1.5 billion in bonds for school construction this year. A new Locke Foundation Spotlight report shows taxpayers could save significant money by adopting construction principles used in Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools.
The principles are demonstrably effective, reports Terry Stoops, JLF education policy analyst. The district has built several new schools at costs below the state averages for such projects.
“At the time they were bid, none of the new schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth district exceeded $100 per square foot, which is remarkable,” Stoops said.
Stoops credited Winston-Salem/Forsyth’s 10 “Principles of Cost-Effective School Construction” for holding costs down. He said that first the principles stress holding the lines on occupancy, building size, and funding, while resisting “wish lists” and lobbying. Next, they emphasize optimizing efficiency and limiting size. Then they promote the use of design solutions to control costs, Stoops said, such as less expensive materials and planning multifunctional classrooms and facilities. Finally, they underscore the need to question and rethink every aspect of the project.
“Winston-Salem/Forsyth shows that the way to build cost-effective schools is to focus on function and finances, not features and frills,” Stoops said.
For example, the bid for Winston-Salem/Forsyth’s new Whitaker Elementary was $90 per square foot. Its total size will be 71,114 square feet, and it’s designed to serve 720 students. In comparison, Wake County’s new Carpenter Elementary will be larger (87,395 square feet) but is designed to serve fewer students (658). It was bid at $100 per square foot.
The new East Forsyth Middle School will be 100,643 square feet in size. It’s designed to serve 760 students. At bid, its cost per square foot was $79. The new Hickory Middle School will be 108,355 square feet in size. It’s designed to serve 600 students and cost $94 per square foot.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth’s new Ronald Reagan High School can serve 1,400 students in its 194,000 square feet, at an initial cost per square foot of $95. Dare County’s new First Flight High School can serve 800 students in its 182,418 square feet, at a bid cost per square foot of $136.
“Winston-Salem/Forsyth could teach other school districts in the state a thing or two about efficient, principled school construction and renovation,” Stoops says. “They would be a welcome addition to other cost-effective solutions to the education boom in North Carolina.”
Stoops elaborated on those other solutions. “Public-private partnerships, converting vacant lots, expanding school choice, raising the cap on charter schools, redistributing lottery revenue, removing counties’ responsibility for Medicaid — all of those combined would maximize state and local revenues, produce more efficient and effective schools, and keep the taxpayers happy. It’s all good.”
Terry Stoops’ Spotlight paper, “The Forsyth Formula: Other School Districts Should Learn These Construction Principles,” is at the Locke Foundation’s website. For more information, please contact Terry Stoops at 919-828-3876 or [email protected]. To arrange an interview, contact JLF communications director Mitch Kokai at (919) 306-8736 or [email protected].