North Springs

SANDY SPRINGS

North Springs to be replaced with new high school

BY BOB PEPALIS

The Fulton County school system plans to replace North Springs High School with a new facility.

At a June 8 meeting, the school board approved a capital plan for 2027, which includes the new high school. Details will be worked out in the coming months, with plans for multiple forms of community engagement, said Brian Noyes, school district spokesperson.

The existing school at 7447 Roswell Road in Sandy Springs was built in 1963, making it one of the oldest schools in the school district.

Parents had been asking for a new high school in 2017 when the school district had just begun its 2022 capital plan, which included a major addition for the school. Another $14 million in renovations was included in its 2010 special local option sales tax plan. But those parents said many of the upgrades were maintenance work for an inadequate facility.

Now, the 2027 capital plan includes a budget of $258 million for the replacement and reconfiguration of existing schools where the costs of renovations are too steep to be viable.

North Springs High and S.L. Lewis Elementary, along with Holcomb Bridge, Haynes Bridge and Camp Creek middle schools, are on that list, said Noel Maloof, chief operations officer for Fulton County Schools. Though the facilities have been named, the scope of work won’t be definitive until the final budget is approved.

“Several options could include rebuilding replacement schools on the current or alternate sites, renovating the schools, reconfiguring one or multiple existing spaces to accommodate the students, consolidating schools, or upgrading or modifying existing structures. The one exception to this is North Springs High School, which is slated to be rebuilt,” Maloof said.

The total approved for the 2027 capital plan was $1.2 billion over five years.

“As you are aware, for the past five capital plans, we have utilized the special purpose local option sales tax, SPLOST, as the major funding source. We are proposing that we continue using SPLOST,” said Marvin Dereef Jr., chief financial officer for the school system. The entrance of North Springs High School at 7447 Roswell Road. (Special/Fulton County Schools)

Estimates by Georgia State University project the school district would receive $1.2 billion in sales tax revenue over five years if voters approve the SPLOST extension on the ballot Nov. 2.

“If we did not use SPLOST revenue to fund our capital plan, we would need to raise the tax millage rate by at least 5.2 mills to still execute the proposed plan … Once again, we recommend not raising the millage rate,” Dereef said.

School board President Julia Bernath said the capital plan is a pay-as-you-go process that they hope to continue. “I want to also remind the voters that what we’re going to be asking for is not a new tax, it would be the continuation of the existing tax,” she said.

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