WOODBRIDGE — When it comes to the cost of removing children from trailer classrooms, $143 million may be too much to swallow.
The joint county/schools capital process team voted Oct. 29 to move forward with a $143.2 million plan to build new classroom space that would lead to the removal of more than 100 portable trailer classrooms stationed at Prince William County Public Schools.
The vote in the joint committee passed 5-1 with Prince William County Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson dissenting.
“I’m just not ready to put my name behind that number yet,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the cost for the proposal trailer-removal program have changed over recent months, moving lower from as high as $500 million to a little over $170 million, and now to the current plan of $143.2 million, as estimated by the county’s school division.
“Now we are at $143 million in an effort to not have to use trailers anymore. And I think we can bring it down some more.” Anderson said. “I still think $143 million is too high.”
Anderson said she and other county officials are still in the process of reviewing the plan.
There are about 100 schools in Prince William County with some under-capacity student population and some over-capacity. Changing school boundaries and sending more children to underutilized schools could save taxpayers money, said Anderson.
Prince William County boasts the highest class sizes in the Washington, D.C. region.
Boundary changes “can cause a lot of turmoil,” among neighbors and families, adds Anderson but if the boundary changes can save the county millions of dollars, she maintains that’s worth looking at. Anderson has requested a presentation about boundaries but isn’t sure if that will be discussed at a joint meeting of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and School Board on November 27.
She said she would support a $100 million price tag, but not $143 million.
For many county leaders, the joint Nov. 27 meeting will be the first time they see details of the plan, , Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland said.
Candland says the plan is not yet ready for prime time and that there still needs to be a lot of discussion between county leaders and school officials.
Candland said the plan would not eliminate all trailers – which was the working assumption of the. But, as it stands, only 120 trailers of the more than 200 trailers would be eliminated, for a total of around $1.2 million per trailer.
That’s “a lot of money”, Candland said.
New school construction is at least six years down the road,
Candland suggested building funding for trailer removal into the county’s five -year financial plan, or, start a “school capital levy” That would earmark money for new “brick and mortar” school buildings.
Brentsville District School Board representative Gil Trenum supports the plan to bring the proposal to both Boards on Nov. 27.
“If we don’t move forward with it then we’ll never make progress,” Trenum said.
Trenum said the plan adds in two more elementary schools and several additions that would equate to about 40% of a middle school and then adds that to the school division’s capital improvement plan – eliminating trailers over a 10-year period, Trenum said.
Woodbridge District School Board member Loree Williams also voted yes for the recommendation that included the $143 million plan.
She said that one of the requests the county was getting from the public was to get rid of trailers.
“The school system trailer count is fluid,” Williams explained and said that the numbers of trailers change often.
Williams said that the joint committee is going to present that plan along with all the other things “operationally” that they discovered to both boards and then it’ll be up to the individual boards to decide whether they take action.
Ultimately, the Board of County Supervisors will decide whether or not to fund the plan.
