The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) met for a workshop on Wednesday and discussed millions in proposed capital projects.
Michael Reneke, chief financial officer for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS), outlined the seven proposed capital projects for the next four years during a presentation.
The first proposed project is Citizens Field, with the estimated cost for improvements coming in at $30.5 million, according to his presentation.
The school board currently does not own the stadium. ACPS has been leasing Citizens Field from the city of Gainesville under a 40-year contract and takes care of the upkeep.
At a meeting on June 2, the SBAC was presented with two agreements with the city involving the transfer of ownership and redevelopment of the stadium.
But some board members expressed concerns about not having enough time to review the contracts thoroughly, and the school board ultimately voted to table the agreements until a special meeting on June 16.
Other proposed capital projects include new construction and renovations at Lincoln, Mebane and Oak View middle schools. This is a result of a right-sizing plan approved by the SBAC in March that includes new attendance boundaries and the closure of several schools starting this fall.
Right-sizing was an essential part of the district’s “Our Schools – Future Ready” planning initiative, which launched in November 2025 to address key issues such as enrollment and school capacity, transportation and educational programs.
As part of the right-sizing plan, Lincoln will become a K-8 school, with that expansion anticipated for fall 2028. According to a March ACPS’s press release, Lincoln will serve most of the students currently at Williams Elementary School, which is projected to close at the end of the 2027-28 school year.
According to Reneke’s presentation, the total estimated cost for new construction and renovations at Lincoln is $96 million. Reneke explained that about $34 million of that total cost will go toward the construction of a new pre-K-5 elementary building at Lincoln. The other $62 million, he said, is associated with the “renovation and buildout of the middle school.”
In March, the SBAC requested that staff bring back options for restructuring Irby Elementary School in Alachua. It was originally proposed that the school would close at the same time as Williams and Alachua Elementary School.
After a community meeting and multiple board discussions, the SBAC voted 3-2 on May 5 to keep Irby as a Pre-K-2 school for all students in the Alachua area, with students moving to Mebane for third through eighth grades.
According to ACPS’s website, “these changes will take effect once construction of a new elementary building and renovations to existing facilities on the Mebane campus are complete.”
Based on Reneke’s presentation, the total estimated cost for new construction and renovations at Mebane is $65 million.
Completion of this work is currently projected for fall 2028, according to the district’s website. This is also when Alachua Elementary will close.
Meanwhile, Oak View will become a Pre-K-8 in the fall.
According to the ACPS release, the school will take in most of the students in the current Newberry Elementary School (NES) zone. NES, which currently serves grades Pre-K-4, is converting to an independently operated charter school this fall, “requiring the district to provide a traditional public-school option for families in the area,” the release said.
To accommodate the increase in students, “modular buildings used to house students during previous facilities projects will be moved to the Oak View campus this summer, and plans will be developed for a new elementary school building at the site,” the release said.
Jackie Johnson, a spokesperson for ACPS, previously told Mainstreet that the projected timeline for completion of the new Pre-K-4 elementary school is fall 2028, with “layout and location to be determined.”
Reneke said during the workshop that new construction at Oak View is estimated to cost roughly $32 million.
Other school-related projects include gym repairs at High Springs, Westwood, Howard Bishop and Mebane Middle Schools (estimated at roughly $5.5 million), track rubberization at Eastside and Newberry High Schools (estimated at a little more than $1.7 million) and a new classroom building at Newberry High School (estimated at $5.4 million).
Put together, the seven projects total more than $236 million, according to Reneke’s presentation.
Suzanne Wynn, executive director of planning, construction and maintenance for ACPS, told the board that the estimated costs for the proposed capital projects are “very, very, very high-level order of magnitude costs.”
“I’m expecting those [costs] to be less, but with the information that we have now, these are the estimates,” she said.
After some discussion, most of the board agreed to proceed forward with the seven proposed capital projects using two different funding methods.
The board will pay for the first four projects – Citizens Field, Lincoln/Williams, Mebane and Oak View – using certificates of participation (COPS).
According to the Colorado Springs School District 11 website, COPS “are a financing tool that allows a school district to utilize a lease structure and borrow money for capital projects.”
Reneke said the timeline for COPS is generally three years.
The other three capital projects – middle school gym repairs, the track rubberizations and the Newberry High School classroom building – will be paid for from ACPS’s 1.5-mill property tax revenue.
Financing documents, including an authorizing resolution for the COPS transaction, will be brought for a vote on July 30.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.