Cape Girardeau Public Schools lays out 10-year facilities plan, board review set for June 2025

Cape Girardeau Public Schools officials described progress on a 10-year facilities plan that the district says will set priorities for building repairs, upgrades and possible future construction and will be presented to the school board for formal adoption in June 2025.

The plan “is basically taking as many points of data that we can across our district, looking at the life expectancy of our infrastructure, but also looking at the utilization of how we're using our facilities and how we're using our buildings,” said Josh Crowell, assistant superintendent of support services. He said the district is using outside firms and internal staff to compile the information.

The facilities plan matters because district officials say it will create a multi-year framework linking maintenance, capital-improvement budgets and any bond requests. Crowell said the plan will help the district decide which projects to fund from existing capital-improvement funds and which larger projects to include in a bond package.

The district issued a request for qualifications in spring 2024 and selected Insight Design Studio to lead building audits and planning work, Crowell said. He said the firm conducted mapping and brought in roofing, HVAC and energy-efficiency experts last summer to assess remaining life expectancy for building components and systems.

“We brought in various companies to do energy efficiency studies. We brought in roofing experts, HVAC experts,” Crowell said. That technical work is being paired with stakeholder input: the district created internal and external committees that include custodians, nutrition services staff, technology and maintenance staff, principals, teachers, parents, local businesses and university representatives, Crowell said. The district also conducted a first round of surveys and plans face-to-face interviews and broader public meetings after the holidays.

District officials said they will prioritize projects in phases. Crowell described a likely multi-phase program and said officials expect the prioritized list to include many items—perhaps well over 100—and that the district will match those priorities to its bonding capacity.

Cape Girardeau Public Schools has run no-tax-increase bonds about every five years under recent superintendents, Crowell said. The district’s last bond in 2019 funded expansions at Schroder and Jefferson schools, he said. Crowell said the district is likely to seek another no-tax-increase bond in spring 2026 to fund the highest-priority projects identified by the facilities plan.

On funding, Crowell explained the district separates operating budgets and capital-improvement funds. He said smaller “low-hanging fruit” repairs—examples given were projects in the thousands of dollars—would be handled from capital budgets, while larger projects would be candidates for bonding.

Superintendent Howard Binion framed the plan as a tool to keep district facilities safe and up to date and to account for changing uses of classroom space. “We want to make sure are we providing a classroom that is, you know, up to par for providing our curriculum?” Binion said, noting the district will distinguish “wants” from “needs” as it prioritizes projects.

What is not yet finalized: specific project lists, individual project costs and exact bond amounts. Crowell said the committee process will continue monthly and that a draft plan will be compiled and presented to the board in June 2025 for formal adoption. He said more public meetings will follow to review priorities and the eventual bond proposal.

The district directed listeners to watch its website, Facebook page and school communications for announcements about committee meetings and public input opportunities. No formal board vote or financing decision was recorded in this podcast; officials described planning steps and timelines only.