What’s next for $100M middle school? Some Fayette board members looking for rebid

At least two of five Fayette school board members said Monday they want to rebid a postponed new middle school on Lexington’s Polo Club Boulevard with an estimated escalating price.

A vote is two weeks away.

“I think we need to move forward and rebid the project and once we see the new estimate we can have further discussion,” Stephanie Spires told the Herald-Leader.

“I’d like to see the new bids and revisit our bonding capacity of course, but it’s clear we need a new middle school to correct some very serious overcrowding situations across the district,” said Tom Jones.

The board is set to vote June 27 on sending the project back out for bidding with the goal of opening the school in August 2025.

Board agenda documents said district officials think it would cost $49 million more than in June 2021.

A divided school board postponed plans for the school in November 2021, when costs rose from $47.2 million to $70.5 million. Jones and Spires voted against postponing the project.

The cost of the proposed project now before the school board is $96.2 million, according to documents attached to Monday’s agenda.

The school board did not discuss the proposed new middle school Monday night.

Board chair Tyler Murphy said in a statement Monday that the agenda item related to the school fits the bidding timeline previously discussed by the board.

Fayette chief operating officer Myron Thompson previously said that possible scenarios include the board rebidding the project in January and having it open August 2024; rebidding in July and having it open in January 2025; rebidding it in January 2023 and having it open in August 2025; or rebidding it in July 2023 and having it open in August 2026.

Board member Christy Morris was not at Monday’s meeting. Murphy and board member Amy Green did not immediately say how they would vote on rebidding the project.

But Murphy said, “The Board continues to evaluate options for current and future facility needs and remains committed to decisions that are fiscally sound in the short and long term.”

“School facilities planning in Kentucky is a multi-step process the complexity of which has grown given the current economic volatility and uncertainty,” he said.