The St. Paul School District would make over and add to many of its schools — strengthening their position as the "heart of the community" — under a long-awaited $484 million facilities plan presented to school board members on Tuesday.
The five-year package includes a previously announced proposal to build a new East Side middle school and spreads the wealth of new projects districtwide — provided the board gives the go-ahead to the funding needed to pull it off.
Tom Parent, the district's facilities director, said the plan would increase property taxes about $30 per year for the median-valued $151,500 home beginning in 2018.
More than half the $484 million would go to deferred maintenance, including new boilers, roofs, plumbing and electrical improvements. The more dramatic elements — the new entryways and cafeterias, classroom additions, plus other features — are planned for 12 sites and could be in place for the start of the 2018-19 school year.
"We are talking major building renewals," Parent said.
Also part of the plan are $6.5 million in athletic improvements, including new artificial turf fields at Washington Technology Magnet School and Highland Park and Como Park high schools — the latter of which also would receive a remodeled entryway and two-story classroom addition.
The school board is expected to vote on the five-year plan on April 26. The proposal has been in the works for nearly two years and was given a major push by the previous board in December when it authorized the start of design work at six schools, including two of the district's most popular: Adams Spanish Immersion and St. Anthony Park Elementary.
The district set out in 2014 to develop a game plan to solve its building needs over 10 years. The five-year plan advanced Tuesday is to be tweaked annually to take into account enrollment changes and other factors, officials say.
