JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Duval County School Board is one step closer to a decision on the Master Facilities plan.
The district said these changes are necessary due to rising construction costs and increased funding shared with charter schools.
At the start of Tuesday night's regular school board meeting, DCPS Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier made it very clear that no voting would be made on the school closures or consolidations.
Tuesday night's vote only applied to the district's five-year capital plan on funding allocation for the next five years.
"It’s a difficult vote but it does move us forward where we will begin to build the schools of the future," said District 5 Board Member Warren Jones.
The five-year capital plan passed in a 6-1 vote, inching district leaders one step closer to a decision on the Master Facilities Plan, which has created lots of community conversations over school closures and consolidations.
18 DCPS schools could potentially close. Tuesday night closures weren't voted on but were still heavily discussed.
"I know that everyone wants to see their schools in year one, two, three, four and five," said Bernier, "I could have produced a capital plan like that but it wouldn’t have been truthful, it wouldn’t have been honest and it wouldn’t have been affordable."
District 1 Board Member Dr. Kelly Coker was the only board member to vote against the capital plan due to concerns over some communities being favored more than others in decision-making.
"I feel like this takes us one step closer to disproportionally affecting communities that should not be impacted in the way they’re going to be impacted," said Coker. "I believe we are taking steps towards giving communities that had the loudest voices what they wanted."
According to Bernier, board policy requires the five-year capital plan to be brought before the board on an annual basis to revisit and make any revisions, which means by Spring 2025, the board will be reviewing funding allocations for Year Two.
"This is not a 15-year plan we’re going to put on the shelf and never revisit," said Bernier.
Now that Tuesday night's vote moves forward, there will be a consolidation impact review process and more board action is expected in November.
Community meetings are currently being held at the six schools set to potentially close or be consolidated in the district.