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Onslow County Schools proposes $6.3 million capital outlay plan for 2025–26 with roofing and security priorities
Summary
Capital outlay presenter Dr. Gardner outlined a $6,304,577.88 capital budget request focused on roofing and security upgrades, mandated analog-to-digital panic-button conversions, camera replacements and vehicle/equipment renewals; staff described a prioritization process that reduced $50M in requests to the proposed allocation.
Dr. Gardner presented the Onslow County Schools proposed capital outlay budget for fiscal year 2025–26, describing a prioritization process that reduced hundreds of site requests to a recommended capital program of roughly $6.3 million focused on roofing, safety upgrades and equipment replacement.
"I'm very happy to present today our 2026 fiscal year capital outlay fund budget proposal," Dr. Gardner told the board, then summarized systemwide facilities: once Woodland Elementary is online the district will have 521 buildings, multiple permanent structures, and over 4.2 million heated square feet to maintain.
Why it matters: Capital funding pays for long-lived physical assets and safety systems. Dr. Gardner said the district received roughly 466 capital requests initially totaling about $74 million; staff narrowed that to 447 requests at about $50.8 million before prioritizing projects to fit an expected capital allocation of $6,304,577.88 this year, including a county contribution and sales tax reimbursement.
Priorities and mandated work: The largest single allocation in the summary slide was for roofing and renovations (about $2.7 million). Staff said other priorities include security upgrades (about $900,000), camera replacements at specific schools, HVAC repairs and replacements, pavement work, playground replacements at Hunters Creek and Swansboro, and activity-bus and service-vehicle replacements that are at end of life.
A mandated conversion: The presentation flagged a legally driven requirement to replace panic-button connections that rely on analog phone lines. The district's phone vendor will discontinue analog support, and panic buttons must be migrated to digital connections; Dr. Gardner described that conversion as an essential, legally driven priority.
Site examples: Staff singled out roofing at Northside High School, intercom replacements at Dixon High School, a fire-alarm replacement at Jacksonville Elementary (noted as near end of life and requiring replacement of unobtainable manufacturer parts), and replacement of aging underground fuel storage tanks to avoid equipment and air-quality issues at heating systems. The packet also listed projects such as HVAC control conversions, gym-floor and bleacher safety inspections, and continued rollout of digital security cameras.
Process and trade-offs: Dr. Gardner described a three-meeting capital team process that includes operations, instructional, IT, maintenance, safety and principal representatives who prioritize projects by urgency (for example, code- or law-mandated items receive top priority), evaluate what maintenance can handle, defer lower-priority requests and adjust work to fit funding limits.
Board reaction: Trustees thanked staff for proactive condition-based maintenance planning and asked for clarifications; staff said they expected to continue phased camera upgrades and would purchase additional server capacity to support higher-resolution cameras and increased bandwidth demands.
Next steps: Staff delivered the capital budget recommendation to the board at the workshop; final capital appropriations will be adopted later in the budget cycle when the board adopts the full budget package and county funding is finalized.
