An updated $282 million budget proposal would defer renovations at an Alexandria elementary school while securing funding for two contentious K-8 conversion plans in 2030.
The new Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget from Alexandria City Public Schools comes in at $58 million less than the Alexandria City School Board’s original proposal and remains under the city’s guidance of $285.8 million, following weeks of workshopping by school and city leaders to trim it down.
It defers funding for the 1950s-era Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology until 2036 and schedules the conversions of Jefferson-Houston and Patrick Henry K-8 schools in 2030. ACPS’ initial proposal placed work at Cora Kelly from 2028-2029 and the K-8 conversions from 2030-2032.
The School Board will vote tonight (Thursday) on whether to adopt the budget, which lays the groundwork to fund capacity and non-capacity projects from 2027 through 2036.
Board members voted 6-3 to move forward with Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt’s proposed cuts during a CIP work session on Tuesday.
Board members Tim Beaty, Kelly Carmichael Booz, Vice Chair Christopher Harris, Chair Michelle Rief, Alexander Scioscia and Ashley Simpson Baird voted in favor of the proposal, while Ryan Reyna, Abdulahi Abdalla and Donna Kenley voted in opposition.
Booz said the board made a difficult decision in deferring renovation at Cora Kelly.
“Their modernization is deferred eight years based on the current proposal to stay within city guidance and prioritize our most urgent needs, which is middle school,” Booz said. “That’s definitely a hard message to deliver to a community that has been promised a new school for years.”
The conversions at Jefferson-Houston and Patrick Henry, which have been the subject of months of community pushback, are intended to address overcrowding at ACPS’ middle schools. Currently, George Washington Middle School is at 126% capacity, while Francis C. Hammond Middle School is at 113%, Booz said.
“Together, that’s roughly 400 more students than these schools were designed to serve,” she said. “We’ve heard that projections show enrollment peaking around FY 2031 and then tapering, so middle school isn’t as urgent, at least that’s what we have heard from the community.”
Data shows that school populations at ACPS are likely to decrease over the next ten years rather than increase, according to previous coverage.
In a recent statement, anti-school conversion advocacy group Save Jefferson-Houston said the capacity issue “deserves a citywide solution — not a predetermined outcome that attempts to solve overcrowding by dismantling a K–8 school located just half a mile from an existing middle school.”
The group also pointed to recent gains in student achievement across the Title I school’s Black and economically disadvantaged students that could be sacrificed as a result of the plans.
“Closing JH’s elementary program at the very moment this progress is becoming visible would have been counter to equity, counter to the data, and counter to sound decision-making,” Save Jefferson-Houston wrote.
Per tonight’s agenda, board members are recommended to approve the final budget. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in ACPS’ Central Office at 1340 Braddock Place.
Also tonight, the board is also expected to vote on a motion to rename the following four facilities, based on results from community petitions and polling.
- Keith Burns Field at Parker-Gray Stadium (The Field at Parker-Gray Stadium, Alexandria City High School – King Street Campus)
- Kerry Donley Athletic Field Complex (The Fields at Alexandria City High School – Minnie Howard Campus)
- Jean B. Reid Media Center (The Media Center at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School)
- Owen’s Place at the Early Childhood Center (ECC courtyard)
