Due to increasing population, 16 Lee County schools could be on the way

As our community explodes with more people, the need for schools goes through the roof.

In a school board workshop, Lee County schools gave us a look at their 10-year plan.

By the year 2033, the district said enrollment will grow so much they will need to do some major work.

More schools, more teachers, more buses, more of everything.

Lee County Schools said it needs $2.6 billion in the next decade for the 16 schools.

But to go from 85,000 students this year to a projected 115,000 in 10 years will require more than just new buildings.

The district said the cost of remodeling or adding on to another eight schools will cost another $423 million.

Buying land, another $22.5 million.

During its planning session this week, the school board talked about the possibility of taking on some debt to make expansion happen, but members were advised not to do that.

“So what do we need to do?” said a school board member, “so we need to either look at some and identify some additional revenue sources. We can reduce expenditures. We need to be very careful when we’re looking at that. We don’t want to not maintain our old schools and just build new schools. We have to keep maintaining our older schools as well.”

The plan also includes changing the design of middle and high schools to fit more students and resolve capacity issues sooner.