School enrollment is flat in Escambia County

Less than year after Escambia County voters approved an extension of the sales tax for public schools–and two weeks after he pre-filed for a third term, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas is ready to launch a huge construction initiative. 

The Escambia County School Board has approved the purchase of 32 acres of land to build a new $44 million to $48 million middle school. It will have a capacity of 1100-1300 students, taking some from Ransom and Woodham Middle Schools.

Thomas has told the daily newspaper that he wants to also build a new $25 million elementary school next to Ransom on Kingsfield Road. That school will hold 800 students.

He said that the two schools are spurred by the growth at Navy Federal Credit Union in Beulah, but Navy Federal leaders will tell you that many of their workers don’t live in the Beulah area. Many of their employees live in Pace, Gulf Breeze and south Alabama.

What we don’t see from the superintendent are any hard facts to support the construction. Most school districts hire professionals to analyze the data to determine how many new schools are needed and where. Jim Paul did it, as did his predecessors. Sarasota County recently completed one.

The Florida Department of Education data shows that the enrollment in Escambia County is down 2,723 student from 2005. It has been relatively flat for the past three years. If Navy Federal was going to impact enrollment, we would have seen a significant jump by now.

The School Board should asking for more data and analysis before it approves $63 million in expenditures. I suspect Superintendent Thomas may want to break ground on these projects just in time for the 2016 election cycle.