Osceola County details $691 million facilities program, cites cut in leased portables and timelines for major schools

Dave Sharma, the School District of Osceola County’s chief facilities officer, told the school board on Oct. 28 that the district’s facilities program budget stands at $691,000,000 and that project closings have reduced the program total by roughly $300,000,000 since the last update in March.

Sharma led a workshop update that covered projects in planning, design and construction, summer work completed at dozens of schools, and a real estate and school‑siting plan. He emphasized that facilities investments support the district’s core mission of educating students and highlighted recent audit results showing no comments on facilities projects in an operational audit from the state auditor’s office.

The update listed several major construction projects under way. High School AAA remains the largest current construction project and is on schedule; roofs and windows are installed, interior work is progressing, chillers are due on site and an ice‑storage system is included to shift cooling loads to lower‑cost overnight power. Cross Prairie K‑8 opened this summer with roughly 1,100 students in a building sized for 1,455; Sharma said enrollment exceeded prior projections and that about 300 students returned from charter schools.

The district also operationalized the PM Wells Center for Academic Excellence in about six weeks after acquiring the property; work focused on life‑safety issues, ADA access, fencing, a secure lobby and other repairs. The Osceola County School for the Arts is undergoing a comprehensive renovation; the district plans to move students out of portable classrooms into new three‑story classroom space over the Christmas break and to turn over the auditorium in April 2026.

Transportation facilities received attention: an East operations site now houses about 77 buses with fueling and wash stations and a driver break room and training (CDL) space. A West Osceola Transportation Center is under construction; when asked about the completion date, Sharma confirmed April 2026.

Sharma summarized dozens of summer projects completed or substantially advanced, including full HVAC replacements, new chillers, fire‑alarm replacements, kitchen rebuilds at Kissimmee Elementary, marquee upgrades, roofing phases and parking lot work. He said Celebration K‑8 is undergoing a roughly $5 million phased HVAC project, and that Poinciana High School is the district’s largest HVAC project at about $15 million and is being done in phases with nights and weekends to avoid classroom disruption.

On operating efficiency and cost control, Sharma noted the inclusion of energy‑saving measures such as ice storage at High School AAA and said staff coordinate projects with the operations department to target work that will reduce long‑term operating expenses. He tied the facilities program to the district’s strategic plan goal of reducing corrective work orders and shifting staff to preventive maintenance.

The district reported a reduction in leased portable classrooms from 175 to 119 last year and to 84 this year; district staff said removing leased portables and related swing‑space units will lower rental costs by about $830,000 annually (rental cost only, not including installation or removal expenses). Sharma said 27 temporary portables used as swing space at the arts school would be removed in December.

Sharma described the school‑siting plan used for 5‑, 10‑ and 20‑year planning and noted a stalled project — a school tied to the Rhone Bridal subdivision — that cannot proceed until the developer secures site permits. He also described mitigation agreements with developers (district standard is to engage mitigation when a residential development exceeds about 750 homes), and said some parcels are owned but reserved until building is required.

Dr. Shanoff, a board member who introduced Sharma, framed the work as necessary to respond to rapid district growth, saying, “Osceola County is the eighth fastest growing county in the country.” Sharma highlighted transparency and fiscal controls, saying the district “gets audited for every project over $2,000,000” and later stating, “We pay less than any other school district.”

Funding sources named in the presentation included local impact fees, a quarter‑penny sales tax for transportation depots and athletic facilities, and the half‑penny sales tax the district uses for renovation projects such as HVAC and roofing. Sharma said the facilities department will continue to seek state and county partnerships and occasional state allocations to offset specific project costs; details of any pending state allocation were not specified in the presentation.

The board received photos and status updates for many schools and projects and heard that the Gateway boardroom renovation is expected to be substantially complete on Nov. 7, 2025 (the November board meeting will still be held at Gateway because staff training on new technology is being finalized). The presentation also included renderings for an Environmental Center boardwalk project — roughly 1,600 feet long — planned with outdoor classrooms and county/city partner programming; staff said a state allocation request has been made to offset costs but did not provide an amount.

Sharma closed by thanking facilities, maintenance, contractors and architects and by framing the work as local taxpayers’ investments. Dr. Shanoff and other board members praised the facilities team’s pace and collaboration with contractors before the chair adjourned the workshop.