FY2026-FY2031 Adopted Capital Improvement Program

FY2026 Adopted Budget Capital Improvement Program

Board of Education As a target for planning, the FCPS has established that the school system should ultimately operate at a capacity below 100% at each level. The purpose would be to decrease the number of schools that are more than 100% capacity and create enough flexibility to more effectively respond to instructional program needs and enrollment growth. The Frederick County Comprehensive Plan, Livable Frederick, includes numerous goals, initiatives and supporting initiatives that reference the importance of public school infrastructure to ensure that all students, regardless of age, have access to high quality educational opportunities and programs to prepare them for jobs of the future or to enable them to become part of the workforce, contribute to the economy, and maintain a high quality of life.

As shown in the table, Frederick County anticipates an increase in overall student enrollment of approximately 5,821 over the next seven years. Student enrollment continues to increase in Frederick County at one of the highest rates in the state, with enrollments steadily increasing while most other counties are seeing decreasing enrollments. To accommodate the additional enrollment anticipated and to address current capacity issues in certain areas of the county, funding is provided for the construction of several projects through FY 2031. These projects will increase elementary school capacity by 1,671 seats and high school capacity by 63. Currently, no additional middle school seating is planned before 2031, but there will be a slight decrease of 159 seats with the replacement Middletown Co-located Middle School project (School Capacity Project table). Additional middle school and high school capacity is planned within the ten-year planning period. System-wide there is no excess elementary capacity, in fact there is currently an 82-seat capacity deficit. There are 14 elementary schools at or over 100% of capacity. Three schools, which are all listed as addition/replacement, two new schools, and several limited renovation projects are scheduled to receive construction funding in this 6-year CIP. This will add a total of 2,416 additional seats.

Current and Projected Enrollment Growth September 2024 – 2031

Total Change Per Year

Pre K-12 Total

Elementary Middle

High

Sep. 2024 Sep. 2025 Sep. 2026 Sep. 2027 Sep. 2028 Sep. 2029 Sep. 2030 Sep. 2031

22,137 22,495 23,046 23,293 23,648 24,017 24,482 25,051

10,622 10,787 11,091 11,516 11,668 11,766 11,802 11,947

14,971 15,004 15,154 15,307 15,533 15,689 16,260 16,553

47,730 48,286 49,291 50,116 50,849 51,472 52,544 53,551

556

1,005

825 733 623

1,072 1,007

Total Increase

2,914

1,325

1,582

5,821

-Enrollments are “equated” enrollment -Enrollments do not include students enrolled at Success Program, Heather Ridge, Rock Creek or Frederick County Virtual School.

Data obtained from the Superintendent's Recommended Draft Educational Facilities Master Plan Annual Update - June 2025

Rendering of Yellow Springs Elementary School, courtesy of FCPS

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