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New elementary school planned

The Coweta County Board of Education voted to move forward with the possible construction of a new elementary school on Mary Freeman Road, during its meeting July 13.

The board voted unanimously to begin a site study on 20 acres held in reserve in the Olmstead subdivision, southeast of SummerGrove, which was donated several years ago by the developer of the Olmstead property. The site study must including environmental and other studies, to ensure that the land is suitable for school construction. The board’s vote allows the Þrst steps to be taken to build the county’s 18th elementary school, possibly by as soon as the next school year.

If the Mary Freeman site is suitable, it would allow construction of a school in one of Coweta’s fastest-growing areas. The board’s action follows notiÞcation by the state that Coweta County School system growth rate and accumulated construction entitlement funds may allow the system to apply for state construction funds for a 53-classroom school on the site. The school system cannot apply to the state for school construction funds for the project,however, until the site studies are complete and state Department of Education has inspected and approved the site.

School system Director of Operation Coy Mills said that a timeline for construction cannot be determined until the site is approved and the system’s application for state capitol outlay funds is reviewed.

“We will be able to determine that better as we move forward with this process,” he said. Also at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, Mills reviewed the progress of several school construction projects, including Coweta’s 17th elementary school in Grantville. The Grantville Elementary School was dedicated last Friday and will open for the 2004-05 school year. $2.6 million in state capitol outlay funds and $4.6 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues funded the $7.2 million Grantville school.

Following completion of the Grantville school, the school system will begin construction of Lee Middle School on Willis Road. The county’s sixth middle school will open for the 2005-06 school year. The state portion of funding for the Grantville school was approved by the Georgia General Assembly last spring. The Board of Education voted Tuesday night to make formal application to the state to collect the funding, as well as classroom expansion funding also made available to Coweta schools. School System Comptroller Keith Chapman also discussed collections of the system’s penny School System SPLOST, which covers school construction. Chapman said that monthly collections of the one-cent tax have continued to increase as the economy has improved in recent months. July collections nearly reached $1.4 million, he said. Tax revenues from the SPLOST showed an average growth rate of 5.44 percent between June 2003 and June 2004, he said - much higher than stagnant rates of just a year ago.