Alachua County Public Schools unveils districtwide facility condition assessment and FMX capital-planning tools

Alachua County Public Schools presented results of a districtwide facility condition assessment and a live demonstration of FMX capital-planning and mapping software during a June 4 board workshop, saying the tools will give staff data to prioritize repairs and plan capital spending.

Assistant Superintendent of Operations Maria Eunice opened the presentation and described the project as a multi‑year effort the board approved in July 2024. “This has been needed for many years and we are excited about having this in place with the data that we need to make decisions going forward,” Eunice said, and asked the board to hold questions until the end of the demonstration.

Alpha Facility Solutions and FMX staff explained what they delivered. Ron Klums of Alpha Facility Solutions said the consultant team inventoried roughly 4,700,000 square feet across 374 buildings at 48 sites, QR‑coded equipment, photographed assets and estimated hard replacement costs. “We documented the remaining service life of all the equipment and systems so that you know when they need to be replaced,” Klums said, adding that the cost estimates shown exclude typical soft costs such as design and permitting.

FMX solutions engineer Justin Dyson showed the district how that inventory and cost data appear in FMX’s Capital Planner, equipment and mapping modules. He demonstrated filtered five‑year views, a heat map of upcoming “hot spots,” condition categorizations (critical, poor, fair, good, excellent), and scenario tools that let staff move planned replacement dates to model funding outcomes. Dyson said the platform can store warranties, manuals and work‑history tied to each QR‑coded asset so maintenance costs accumulate on each item and can inform replace‑versus‑repair decisions.

The presentation also included key analytical outputs from the FCA: a calculated district current replacement value (CRV) using a per‑square‑foot construction factor, a facility condition index (FCI) for each building (total deferred needs divided by CRV), and a 20‑year forecast of capital renewal needs. Alpha provided a figure for cumulative hard‑cost renewal needs of about $737 million over 20 years (hard costs only) and an illustrative average annual need of about $37 million; FMX and Alpha emphasized that soft costs (design, permitting, construction administration) are typically additional and were not included in those totals.

Eunice and staff outlined next steps: staff will analyze the FCA outputs, prioritize critical and immediate needs with safety, security and learning environments as the top criteria, determine projected capital funds available for 5/10/15/20‑year horizons, and keep the FMX inventory current through standard operating procedures. Eunice said the district wrote an SOP assigning foreman Steven Howard and administrative assistant Amber Sams significant responsibility for maintaining the asset database and integrating new purchases or replacements.

Public comment supported using the data to set priorities. Gina Mastro De Casa, speaking as an individual though identifying her Half‑Cent Oversight Committee role, thanked staff and urged the board to pair the FCA with strategic decisions about facility use and footprint so capital funds are deployed where they will serve students most effectively.

Board members asked for view‑only FMX access and the underlying data files; staff said Alpha uploaded spreadsheets and that teams can arrange one‑on‑one walkthroughs for trustees and provide site‑level reports and the district’s executive summary. Staff cautioned that some categories — notably athletic fields and certain stadium work — were not fully included in the initial FCA and will be added by Alpha in follow‑up work.

The workshop was a demonstration and planning briefing; staff said they will use the FCA and FMX to produce prioritized capital plans for board consideration but did not propose or adopt any binding spending plan during the session.