School leaders ask county to approve $7 million in capital outlay notes and $1.3 million in school projects

School district representatives briefed the commission on capital needs and education debt requests July 13, asking the county to approve funds and capital outlay notes to cover construction and equipment.

The school board’s package included two primary projects: a Tech & Maintenance building and a Harpeth High CTE construction addition. Bids returned lower than earlier estimates; the maintenance building was reported as coming in around $5,000,507.925 (staff stated the project is "under budget" relative to a $7,000,000 preprogrammed estimate). School officials requested allowing use of the originally programmed $7,000,000 to construct both projects in the coming year.

The district also outlined a $1.3 million list of capital purchases for textbooks (ELA, math and science), sound-system upgrades at elementary schools, a food-service van and three smaller vans for middle schools, a skid-steer and snowplows, an alignment machine for transportation maintenance and classroom-panel (Promethean-style) replacements. School officials said some items (Promethean boards) are outdated and need removal; they planned to replace them with more durable panels and to phase flooring replacement toward LVT in time to reduce annual waxing costs.

On athletics, the district reported the Cheatham High infield and track require extensive work because of a large crown in the field; resurfacing the track requires redoing the infield and would add roughly $600,000 to the cost if turf were chosen. School officials recommended prioritizing the maintenance and tech building and the CTE addition and said turf was not off the table but would likely be funded from fund balance if pursued.

Next steps: the budget committee approved forwarding requests related to education debt and capital items; school officials said they would provide additional details and cost reconciliations for the full commission to consider.