How Much Does it Cost to Build a High School?
by pwceducationreform
PWCS is looking at incurring $505 million in debt in the next 5 years for new school construction and renovations and expansions of existing schools. That’s a lot of money, money which will have to be paid back by taxpayers as debt service over the next 20 years.
Debt service money, which is the interest and principal on the bonds we issue to pay for school construction, comes from the school division’s annual allocation of tax receipts from PWC. PWCS currently spends over $1 billion annually to operate our public schools and pay our school related debt service. If debt service costs go up we have to either reduce the amount allocated to operating the schools or ask the BOCS for more money (aka raise taxes).
Because those bonds will have to be paid back, with interest, how much our school division pays to build, renovate, or expand schools is something we should all pay attention to.
Our current model is to build high schools that house 2,053 students in grades 9 -12. The last three high schools PWCS built were Patriot, Battlefield, and Freedom High Schools. Each was built to house 2,053 students.
Battlefield High School opened in the Fall of 2004 and cost $36 million to
