The Marion County Public Schools surtax oversight committee on Dec. 1 heard updates on four projects funded by the capital outlay sales tax and asked facilities staff for clearer, standardized reporting on schedule and cost.

Angela Usher, senior executive director of operations, opened the update and asked facilities staff to present the current status of projects the board approved in September. Facilities director (identified in the record as Miss Bumbach) said East Marion Elementary has an architect (Monarch Design Group), phase‑2 drawings are in hand, subcontractors have walked the site and bid packages are being prepared with construction expected next summer, coordinated to minimize disruption to the occupied campus.

Miss Bumbach said work on Osceola Middle School’s Building 2 (classroom wing near the library) is smaller in scope: Walker Architects is on design, Lisonbee Wright is the construction manager, and a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) is expected to be submitted for approval soon.

On the Bellevue Santos replacement project, staff said the board opted to reuse a recently opened elementary prototype (the presentation named Heppner Architects), surveying and required demolition planning are under way, and the district must file a Division of Education (Castaldi) report before demolition; staff estimated the replacement school would not be completed until about 2028. Facilities staff noted demolition of older wings and renovation of two newer wings are part of the plan.

Separately, Miss Bumbach described an HVAC emergency at Bellevue Middle School for which the board allocated $1 million to fast‑track design; staff are finalizing the scope and plan to request construction funding through the district’s millage in next year’s budget.

Board members questioned cost comparisons between recent elementary projects (Ross Prairie, Marion Oaks, Winding Oaks) and the Bellevue work, noting that Bellevue’s budget must also cover demolition and moving costs. One board member asked the district to provide a simple “scorecard” for each project that lists the design estimate, contract award date and amount, anticipated completion date and final delivered cost so the board can capture lessons learned and provide clearer oversight. Facilities staff agreed to prepare those breakdowns and to summarize lessons learned from recently opened schools.

The meeting record shows no GMP for the Bellevue replacement has yet been established and that the $37,000,000 shown in the packet represents funds the district expects to accumulate this fiscal year toward that project; staff characterized the $50–$55 million range discussed in the meeting as an early construction estimate that excludes final furniture and technology costs.

The committee did not take a formal action on any of the projects during the work session; staff committed to return with more detailed cost breakouts and a lessons‑learned summary.

The committee’s next oversight discussion on project reporting is expected at a future work session when staff deliver the requested scorecards.