Durham Public Schools lays out $965 million facilities backlog, proposes districtwide capital improvement plan

Durham Public Schools on Tuesday told the joint meeting of the Durham County Board of Commissioners and the DPS Board of Education that a recent facilities condition assessment (FCA) identifies roughly $965 million in like‑for‑like replacement needs for aging buildings and infrastructure, and that the district will pair that assessment with learning‑environment guidelines to develop a 10‑year capital improvement plan (CIP).

School planning program administrator Devin Mitchell said the FCA — prepared by an outside firm and due to be presented to the school board on May 22 — evaluates each site across roughly 15 technical categories and has been used to build a prioritized 10‑year expenditure plan. “We have approximately 6,400,000 square feet of district facilities,” Mitchell said during the presentation, adding that the $965 million figure is a “very rough number” that excludes loose furniture and some upgrades tied to current sustainability and performance targets.

The district described three planning tools it uses: a facilities master plan for site‑by‑site long‑range design changes, a building‑level facilities condition assessment for systems and envelopes, and a 5‑ to…