Nelson County planning committee hears renewed calls to renovate New Haven School; reviews enrollment, costs and DFP details

Nelson County’s Local Planning Committee met at New Haven School on April 16, 2025, to review condition reports and enrollment data for New Haven School and to receive public comment pressing for renovation and faster action.

Committee members heard a presentation on population and enrollment trends, facility-condition findings and financing basics from district staff and the district’s architect. Committee members and several New Haven residents urged the committee to move beyond planning to firm board action so renovation work can proceed.

The meeting matters because New Haven has not had a comprehensive renovation in decades and the district faces an enrollment decline that affects planning and the scale of required work. Committee members said acting with urgency could affect the district’s ability to capture state facility funds that require local investment and a district facility plan (DFP).

Alex Martin, chief operating officer for Nelson County Schools, told the committee the district provided data showing a decline in school-age population in the New Haven area (–20% for school-age children from 2010 to 2020) and that the district projects roughly 160 K–5 students at New Haven next year. Martin said the district’s school tax rate is 67.3¢ per $100 of assessed property and described the facility funding portion as the county’s “bottom three nickels,” which are dedicated to facilities and cannot be raised or lowered outside statutory limits. "The point here is, is the facility funding tax rate from a percentage standpoint, it cannot go up and it cannot go down," Martin…