A divided School Board last Thursday backed a 22% cut in the anticipated future cost of a renovation/expansion project at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, but left the door open to more discussion.
The 3-1 vote, with one abstention, reduces the cost estimate to $130 million, from an initial $168 million proposed by Superintendent Francisco Durán and staff.
School Board members retained the $80 million cost of renovating Swanson Middle School proposed by Durán, bringing the total cost for the two schools to $210 million in the fiscal 2027-36 capital improvement plan now under consideration.
Durán’s nearly $250 million proposal to address needs at the two schools was well in excess of the $150 million guidance he had received from the School Board late last year. The $210 million figure adopted by School Board members on May 28 more or less splits the difference between the two.
The funding should be enough to get the jobs done, School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton said.
“We have made a commitment to the middle school projects,” she said on May 28, expressing the belief that costs can be reduced “without losing the most important goals and outcomes of the renovations.”
If more funding is required, that will be taken up later, Zecher Sutton said.
“At this point, we are not discussing a finalized [construction] budget — we are discussing projected costs and balancing them with the work we want completed,” she said.
Further discussion is set for a work session on June 2. Final adoption of the capital improvement plan is set for June 18.
Durán’s proposal had called for:
- A three-story, 87,750-square-foot addition to, plus major renovations to existing facilities at Thomas Jefferson Middle School
- A three-story, 25,485-square-foot addition to Swanson Middle School coupled with realignment of interior spaces
Under the proposal, the Thomas Jefferson renovation/expansion would come first, with most of the funding being sought in a 2028 bond referendum. Swanson’s renovation would follow.
The May 28 meeting brought out supporters of Thomas Jefferson Middle School, pressing Board members not to cut the $168 million renovation figure proposed by Durán for the school. But a majority of the Board said they needed to look at the bigger picture.
“Many other schools [are] in need of significant issues to be addressed,” Board member Miranda Turner said.
Whether the package for improvements at the two middle schools is $150 million, $210 million or $250 million, all decisions on how to allocate scarce available resources “come with tradeoffs,” Turner said.
Turner, Zecher Sutton and Kathleen Clark voted to amend Durán $250 million for the two schools to $210 million in the draft capital package. Zuraya Tapia-Hadley voted against the change, and Monique “Moe” Bryant abstained.
The change adopted by School Board members does not directly reduce the $80 million renovation cost proposed on May 14 by Durán for renovation and expansion at Swanson. But that figure is below the projected cost range of $88 million to $94 million put out earlier by APS planning staff.
The only other substantive change made by School Board members to Durán’s proposal was requesting that the $60 million bond referendum being sought for 2026 be raised to $80 million.
“It will be manageable,” Zecher Sutton said of the fiscal implications of a higher amount, and will provide the school system more funding to address pressing capital projects.
“We can’t overlook the needs of schools that fall short of a major renovation,” she said.
School Board members will need to win support of their County Board colleagues to bump the Nov. 3 school bond up $20 million. Those discussions are ongoing.
Board members also agreed with the superintendent’s proposal for General Assembly authority for localities to increase the local sales tax 1% to support school construction, which would provide Arlington Public Schools approximately $50 million per year.
And there will be ongoing discussion of potential public-private partnerships to support future school projects.
At the May 28 School Board meeting, Arlington County Civic Federation president Nicholas Giacobbe said his organization has concerns about a lack of transparency in the overall capital plan.
The document “doesn’t explain why some projects are proposed for funding and others are not,” Giacobbe said.
“The community wants to know what projects are being deferred into the next decade,” he said, pointing in part to improvements needed at Washington-Liberty, Wakefield and Yorktown high schools.
