Three new schools planned for East County

The School District of Manatee County’s draft of its 5-year capital plan is focusing on growth in East County. 

The district has plans for three new schools to be constructed in the next five years to help relieve Lakewood Ranch-area schools that are over capacity or nearing capacity including B.D. Gullett Elementary School, Dr. Mona Jain Middle School and Lakewood Ranch High School.

Mike Pendley, an executive planner for the School District of Manatee County, said the district is projected to have 7,077 additional students over the next 10 years, with the most students coming at the elementary level at 3,255 students. 

“If we fail to provide the new schools, then all of our north and east county schools will be over capacity,” Pendley said. “That will have an impact on our west county schools as well because with our choice program, you’re going to have people who decide they don’t want their students in overcrowded schools. They’ll (will send them) somewhere else.” 

The new schools are projected to cost millions of dollars more than past new school construction. For example, the district spent approximately $97 million to build Parrish Community High School, which opened in 2019. 

The new K-8 school planned for Lakewood Ranch is estimated to cost the same as Parrish Community High, while the new high school is estimated to cost $150 million.  

Joe Ranaldi, the chief operations officer for the School District of Manatee County, said the district previously included a 7% escalation in the cost of a construction project, but with inflation not slowing down, the district is adding 10% to 12% to project costs. 

“Square footage wise, we’re not building anything extravagant,” Ranaldi said. “It’s inflation, labor costs, material costs. Part of the material cost is the material lead times too, which can delay a project, and there’s a cost associated with that project timeframe.”

The elementary school on Rye Ranch will be located on approximately 18 acres and will be located a mile south of the intersection of Rutland Road and north Rye Road.

Ranaldi said the district is under contract for the property and anticipates closing in late 2024. 

“At this point right now, the infrastructure is not in place in order for us to undertake the construction of our property,” he said. 

The school will help alleviate overcrowding at Barbara Harvey Elementary School, which already is over capacity after opening in 2019. In the 2022-2023 school year, Harvey Elementary had approximately 1,080 students, which is 242 students over the school’s capacity. 

Ranaldi said there are several homes and neighborhoods being constructed around Gene Witt and Annie Lucy Williams Elementary School, so the Rye Ranch school will be able to pull students from those attendance areas as well. 

The Rye Ranch elementary school is projected to have space for 964 students. Ranaldi said the district will be requesting architects to submit prototypes rather than the district using models of previous elementary schools. 

“We’re estimating 964 student stations, and we really don’t have a prototype of that makeup right now,” Ranaldi said. “We’re thinking there are other things out there that will give us that type of student capacity. Harvey has a capacity of 849 (students) and that was the most recent one, so we’re looking to increase the size of this.”

The design for the project is tentatively funded in fiscal year 2024-2025 with potential occupancy in August 2026.

The estimated cost of the project is $56 million. 

A new K-8 school, which will be the first traditional public school of its kind in East County, is projected to open on approximately 40 acres south of Academic Avenue and a quarter-mile east of Uihlein Road in August 2025. 

The school is projected to have 750 elementary students and 750 middle school students. The goal is to provide relief to Gullett Elementary and Mona Jain Middle. 

Ranaldi said the district is looking to phase the K-8 project, possibly starting with the elementary portion of the school to help alleviate capacity at Gullett Elementary, which was approximately 187 students over the school’s 927-student capacity in the 2022-2023 school year. 

Once the elementary portion of the school is complete, Ranaldi said the district could move forward with the middle school wing followed by the gymnasium and the middle school athletic facilities. 

The district has hired HKS Architect and Williams Design Group to design the school and NDC Construction as the construction manager. Ranaldi said the contracts will go before the School Board of Manatee County in June. 

The district projects the elementary portion of the school could open in August 2025 followed by the middle school portion in August 2026. 

The estimated cost for the K-8 school is $97 million. 

To address growth at the high school level as well as alleviate Lakewood Ranch High School’s over capacity, the district plans to construct a high school on approximately 103 acres south of Rangeland Parkway and west of Post Road near Premier Sports Campus. 

The high school would have a capacity of at least 1,987 students. Lakewood Ranch High’s enrollment in the 2022-2023 school year was approximately 2,412 students, which is 224 students over the school’s capacity.

The estimated cost of the high school is $150 million, and the school could open in August 2027.