Capital committee recommends $28.2 million in priority-one projects for New Hanover County Schools

The New Hanover County Schools Capital Outlay Committee reviewed its fiscal-year 2025–26 priority-one capital requests and voted to forward the staff recommendation to the full school board, a package the staff estimated at approximately $28,200,000 for priority-one projects and an additional facilities-capital list of about $11,700,000.

Committee staff presented a multi-page packet covering repairs and renovations, technology, furniture and equipment, vehicles and a new “facilities capital” category. Miss Sutton, a New Hanover County Schools staff member presenting the packet, told the committee, “On this page, you can see at the top the different requests that we've received this year for capital,” and outlined how items were categorized into priorities 1 (imperative), 2 (essential) and 3 (important).

The recommendation mattered because the district and county use different definitions of capital, staff said. Mr. Anderson, a New Hanover County Schools staff member who explained the new “facilities capital” category, said the county asked the district to separate annual repair/renovation (maintenance-style capital) from larger additions or improvements. Anderson described a proposed $500,000 facility needs assessment intended to produce a 10-year maintenance-cost projection the county requested.

Why it matters: staff said the priority-one subtotal reflects work the district considers most urgent and near-term, including replacement of aging equipment and safety-related repairs. Ms. Lawrence, the facilities presenter, listed a number of top-priority repairs: replacement of three…