Nashville Mayor John Cooper outlined his priorities for building and renovation projects at a press conference Thursday, proposing nearly $140 million to go to Metro Nashville Public Schools projects.
Cooper’s spending plan would completely replace Lakeview and Percy Priest Elementary schools. And it would fund a major renovation at Paragon Mills Elementary.
“All three of these schools have been on the capital budget wishlist for Metro Schools for a while,” said MNPS Board Member Cheryl Mayes. Lakeview is in her district. And among other issues, she said the building had a leaky roof.
“So it’s exciting that they will now be prioritized and come off that list. It will make some room for some other needed projects to move up to the top of the list.”
In this year’s CSP and supplemental capital replacement fund, over $155,000,000 will be directed toward education initiatives, the vast majority directly allocated to Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).
More: https://t.co/fKwNxHVORT pic.twitter.com/La17CYU337
— John Cooper (@JohnCooper4Nash) January 26, 2023
And there is no shortage of other potential capital projects for the district. At a school board committee meeting this week, MNPS had identified more than dozen facilities needs ranked as high priority for this year.
During that meeting, multiple board members pointed out that deferred maintenance projects often snowball into full-blown replacements.
Board Member Emily Masters said the city is now making up for years of underfunding, and praised the capital investment in MNPS, saying it’s among the largest in recent history.
Overall, the mayor proposed a nearly $480 million capital spending plan. He’s suggesting the city put more than $140 million into public safety, including a new juvenile justice center and fire department headquarters. The full release can be found here.
Ultimately, the Metro Council will determine how the city invests its capital budget. They’ll make those decisions in the coming months.
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