Williamson County School Board approves billion-dollar plan to address growing enrollment

The Williamson County Board of Education voted Monday night to approve a nearly $1 billion updated five-year capital improvement plan which includes construction projects to accommodate the district’s growing student population.The new plan is a significant increase from last year’s total of $700 million. That money would fund 9 new buildings along with major renovations to 9 existing schools along with other renovations and maintenance.Superintendent Jason A. Golden told board members the majority of capital investments wouldn’t begin immediately.“We have pushed back and delayed every single one of those projects based on the student enrollment numbers that we have this year. And the projection here is that we don’t expect to ask for any funding for a new school until May of 2025,” said Golden. “The total numbers in the aggregate are substantially higher because we project costs are going to continue to increase but our short-term request has substantially decreased.”The capital improvement plan is an annual agenda item that is updated to the needs of needs of the district and its growth change. One of the major factors behind the changes this year is an effort to even out of student population numbers.The district placed new school construction projects on hold to see if the increased student enrollment it has been seeing is simply a trend.“We think the wise thing to do is to let the commission know we project out these items may very well come, and you need to be prepared for them, but they are not coming in the short term based on that short term information we have,” said Golden.Board members expressed their support for the fluidity of the plan and how it’s not set in stone, allowing for future adjustments.Board member Josh Brown was among those expressing approval saying he felt the plan was reasonable and rational. Brown also said that it’s important to put the numbers in context since the $1 billion total number accounts for year six of the five-year plan.“It’s really easy to go to the bottom right corner of this document and see almost billion-dollar number, (it’s) an eye-popping number. But it’s also really important I think for us – and for the commission – to put this in context,” said Brown. “I think from a planning perspective, there’s nothing imminent that I think we or the commission have to really worry about from a spending standpoint or a debt standpoint.”Board member Donna Clements was the only one to vote against the spending plan. Clements said she couldn’t support it due to concern over the flattening student-aged population and the county’s debt.“Our county is in debt, and it has, since 2018, it has doubled. I really became fascinated with the growth in Williamson County in 2017. And I remember being just shocked that we had $475 million in debt and now we’re over a $1 billion dollars in debt. So, in just those six years, we’ve gone from $475 million to $1.1 billion, and we cannot sustain this debt,” said Clements.