Stafford schools ask supervisors to approve one-time carryover funds for property, rebuild site and technology replacements

Chris Fulmer, deputy superintendent and chief operating officer for Stafford County Public Schools, told the Board of Supervisors that the division is asking the board to consider several time-sensitive, one-time funding requests and would return to the board for formal appropriation at the May 6 meeting.

The most time-pressing item is a proposed acquisition of a leased warehouse on Blackjack Road. Fulmer said the school system entered a contract this winter to buy the facility for $2,950,000 and that an appraisal came back close to $3,000,000. The contract contains a May 15 deadline; staff said an additional extension would increase the sales price by about $50,000.

The school division has used the building for roughly three to four years for school nutrition storage and distribution, technology imaging, and bus driver training, Fulmer said. The division currently pays about $125,000 a year to lease the space; staff reported that comparable lease alternatives would be substantially higher — roughly $210,000 a year for equivalent space — and that market options the division reviewed were either much larger than needed or would cost more per square foot.

Why it matters: Fulmer and supervising board members said ownership would give the county and school division more flexibility to store and stage materials, free up crowded county facilities, and reduce exposure to rising lease costs. Board members raised competing priorities: some argued the $3 million could instead be directed to capital repairs (so-called 3R projects) that the county and schools face, while others said limited available warehouse and fleet space makes acquisition fiscally prudent in the near term.

Fulmer also summarized two other requests that staff expect to bring back for formal action on May 6. The first is an appropriation to buy a parcel being eyed for the Drew Middle School rebuild: staff said the preferred site is inside the school’s current attendance zone and is less costly to develop than an alternate Cliff Farm parcel. Staff said the land contract has a June 1 contingency that county and school staff are negotiating to extend as needed.

Second, Fulmer described a technology proposal using one-time FY24 carryover funds to replace classroom desktop computers and the division’s oldest student Chromebooks. He said about $700,000 of approximately $3.11 million in one-time funds would go to roughly 1,600 classroom desktop units that are reaching end-of-life for Windows upgrades; the remaining carryover would fund Chromebook replacements targeted to the oldest student devices and those no longer supported for state testing.

Supervisors pressed staff for details. Supervisor English asked whether county facilities and fleet staff had been consulted about co-locating or sharing the Blackjack Road space; Fulmer said staff had met with county facilities and identified opportunities to share space and to reconfigure racking to increase efficiency. County staff noted that a private tenant occupies two garage bays under an expiring lease, and the division said that tenant intends to stay for the remainder of that short-term lease.

Supervisor Baumke asked about community impacts and noted a rezoning on nearby property (Fox Chase) that could affect future relocations; staff said they had discussed community outreach and that the purchase decision would be presented to the public when it returns to the board agenda. Doctor Young and other supervisors pressed for a formal space-needs review and for clearer coordination between school and county facilities before any purchase is finalized.

No formal appropriation took place at this work session. Fulmer said the division would return with final appropriation and additional detail on May 6, and that the Blackjack Road contract deadline of May 15 is driving the accelerated timeline.

Ending: School staff asked the board for preliminary direction and said they would provide a detailed financing plan, facility condition report, and a proposed co-location agreement for county use when the item returns to the board for formal action.