As many as 10 new public schools costing tens of millions of dollars could be built across the Chattanooga area over the next several years to answer anticipated population growth.
That’s on top of at least $500 million spent over the last decade on new and expanded schools to catch up to a student enrollment surge and population shifts.
North Georgia grew the fastest, up to 42 percent in some areas. At least 20 new schools opened across the greater two-state region in the last decade, including 12 in Catoosa, Walker and Whitfield counties.
Whitfield County alone has opened four schools since 2005, and a $45 million, 1,100-student high school near Prater’s Mill will open next fall.
North Georgia is expected to need as many as four new schools in the coming years. In Tennessee, Volks-wagen and other industries at Enterprise South industrial park, as well as the Wacker Chemical plant coming to Charleston, Tenn., likely will lure workers to Hamilton and Bradley counties which will need schools for their children.
Hamilton County officials are considering at least a couple of new schools, probably elementaries.
“We’re really looking for the bulk of the elementary growth to occur between Highway 58, the Georgia state line and Bradley County in the northeastern part of the county,” said Gary Waters, assistant superintendent of auxiliary services. “There are a lot of subdivisions sitting out there, just waiting for the housing demand to come back.”
Bradley County is looking for land in the south of the county for an elementary school and possibly a middle school. Officials in the Cleveland city school system also are looking for an elementary school site.
Across the region, five elementary schools, two middle schools, a couple of K-8 schools and a high school could be opened over the next five to 10 years. Cost projections for most projects were not available so early in the planning process. But based on estimates of recent construction and some systems’ projections, the tally could be as high as $155 million or more depending on inflation.
The cost of school construction is one of the growing pains that has come with rapid population growth in the region, led by North Georgia.
U.S. census records from 2000 to 2009 show that the population zoomed up in most of North Georgia. Fort Oglethorpe, at 42 percent, set the pace of growth over the period.
Based on average annual growth of 2.6 percent, Catoosa officials project the county population will more than double by 2030, from about 62,000 now to more than 115,000.
By 2050, the population in the 10 counties of Northwest Georgia also is expected to double, from around 521,000 now to more than 1 million, according to records from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
Meanwhile, Chattanooga grew by a little more than 10 percent between 2000 and 2009, after losing population in the 1980s. Census officials estimated Chattanooga’s population at 171,349 in 2009, up by almost 16,000 people since 2000.
HAMILTON COUNTY
With more than 43,000 students in 78 schools, Hamilton County is the largest district in the region and has the most schools.
Hamilton County Schools grew by a modest 1.5 percent, or about 500 students, each of the last four years, records show.
But Waters said the growth rate could start increasing. Enrollment has grown at middle and high schools partly because of the bad economy, which has forced some private-school students back into the public system. Most of the growth in elementary schools arose from an influx of young families, he said.
The county will need new elementary space in five years, and there is “spot” overcrowding in some middle and high schools, he said. East Hamilton School, the middle-high that opened in August 2009 to serve 1,650, enrolled nearly 2,000 students this year.
“That’s an issue we’ll have to deal with,” he said. “We have some middle school capacity at Hunter Middle and Ooltewah Middle. But our major focus is going to be on the elementary side for at least the next three to four years.”
“We are planning for a new elementary school in the east county to relieve overcrowding at Apison and Westview elementaries and another one in the central/east section for growth in the Tyner and Harrison areas,” spokeswoman Danielle Clark said of the most recent planning.
Other plans could include a replacement for Chattanooga School For Liberal Arts.
BRADLEY COUNTY
Bradley’s enrollment has grown by more than 700 students over five years, from almost 9,700 in 2005 to nearly 10,400 this year, officials said. The county’s population grew from 91,000 in 2004 to almost 98,000 in 2009, officials said.
The system spent $15.5 million on three projects — a $10 million Park View Elementary School, a $2 million upgrade at Valley View Elementary School and a $3.5 million fine arts facility at Bradley Central High School, officials said.
Bradley’s projections show that at the present rate of growth, enrollment could swell by 1,000 by 2015 and more than 3,500 by 2035.
Besides looking for land for one or perhaps two schools, officials said they plan to add a classroom wing at Walker Valley High School and update technology systemwide.
CATOOSA COUNTY
Over the last decade or so, Catoosa County spent about $96 million on five schools to house more than 1,600 new students.
Officials are reviewing input from taxpayers on how to use revenue from the next educational special purpose local option sales tax cycle. On March 11, voters will decide whether to continue the penny sales tax to fund schools’ capital projects.
Officials say the special sales tax has generated almost $100 million since the first one was passed in 1997.
The system owes about $30 million on Heritage High School, which opened in 2008, and officials are studying future needs for an elementary school. Superintendent Denia Reese said school board members have identified four future priorities: “Improving student achievement, enhancing student safety, maintaining facility equity and preparing for growth.”
Facility and technology updates are in line for West Side Elementary and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High, Director of Operations Damon Raines said. LFO also is due for a new gym, updated science labs and a redesigned front office to improve access, visibility and security.
Other future projects could include an auditorium for Ringgold Middle and Ringgold High schools, both now 55 years old, officials said.
WHITFIELD COUNTY
Enrollment gains have leveled off recently, but long-term growth will continue in Whitfield County, spokesman Eric Beavers said.
Between 1995 and 2008, enrollment grew by about 30 percent before hitting a plateau, Beavers said. Student population has grown by just 1 percent since 2008, he said, and now is about 13,450. Officials blame the economic collapse that hit the floorcovering industry, the keystone of Whitfield’s economy.
Since 1997, Whitfield has spent about $198 million on five new schools, expansions and renovations, he said.
Slower growth makes it “difficult to make a firm projection” of school needs, he said.
But the slowdown gave Whitfield the chance to try to catch up with past growth, he said.
“The explosive growth of the prior decade had our schools busting at the seams,” he said. “For example, Northwest High School has more than 1,800 students enrolled this year while most high schools in the region have closer to 1,200.”
Along with a new high school, the system plans to replace Eastbrook Middle School and build a fitness center at the Whitfield Career Academy, he said.
WALKER COUNTY
Walker County’s average enrollment swelled from 9,033 in 2006 to 9,382 in 2009 before falling slightly, spokeswoman Elaine Womack said.
Enrollment stands at 9,266 this year.
“The plan being completed for the next five years shows growth at 47 [students] per year,” Womack said.
Walker spent about $32 million in the last five years on expansions, additions at four schools and two new middle schools, she said.
All 15 Walker schools have been rebuilt, remodeled or replaced in the last 20 years, she said. But aging facilities still are crowded, and Walker needs to add classrooms to replace portable buildings.
“Construction of a new K-8 in the middle of the county should begin in the spring, and the state predicts we will need a new high school in this area,” she said.
Walker’s two high schools, both built to hold 1,000 students, are over capacity, she said.
The system’s five-year plans include a high school, probably on the same property in Rock Spring as the new K-8, she said.
CHICKAMAUGA AND OTHERS
The smallest school system in Northwest Georgia, Chickamauga City Schools, grew more than 6 percent in just the last two years, officials said.
Chickamauga has three schools on a single campus and no room to grow. The system is “near capacity” in all schools, spokeswoman Jenny Vowell said, but there’s a built-in safety valve.
Because 52 percent of its students live outside the city, the system can limit out-of-district enrollment to accommodate growth, Vowell said.
“By having this luxury, we do not project the need for future new schools,” she said.
Other systems around the region are dealing with aging facilities and growing enrollment.
Dalton High School in Dalton, Ga., just completed its first addition since it opened in the 1970s, and Murray County, Ga., just opened a new high school.
In the last few years, Marion County Schools in Southeast Tennessee spent $18.5 million to replace a middle school and to improve and expand four other schools, Director of Schools Mark Griffith said.
Polk County, Tenn., opened two new high schools and an elementary school several years ago amid a 10 percent surge in enrollment in 2006.
And in Rhea County, school officials are seeking a construction manager to build a new high school expected to cost $27 million to $35 million.