Delaware lawmakers just passed a $1.1 billion capital spending plan.
Commonly known as the bond bill, it fuels construction and infrastructure projects across the state and caps off the final rolls of the legislative session. Roads, new buildings, parks, community initiatives and many more line items comprise nearly 100 pages of legislation.
And of course that includes financing schools, especially large-scale capital projects approved by the state.
These projects won’t sound new, especially in their communities. But highlights among the funds earmarked for new school buildings and other improvements stand out among the $200.4 million in total capital spending set aside for education in fiscal year 2025.
In most cases, these investments are combined with local financing as projects across the state seek to move forward or continue.
In total, the Department of Education approved 50 certificate of necessity applications for consideration prior to this bond act, 44 of which related to state funding in six districts.
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Further Strengthening of a New Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School
Last fall, the New Castle County Vocational Technical School District broke ground on a new Hodgson Vo-Tech High.
The project sees about $54.1 million in combined state and local funds in the next fiscal year, as detailed in this spending plan. The total cost will be much higher, likely more than $200 million.
“To continue to provide unparalleled opportunities for current and future students, NCCVT is building a new, state-of-the-art, 286,896-square-foot school on the current playing fields site,” the district said in a September press release. They will then demolish the former building to make way for new playing fields.
The new school aims for expanded career fields, a gymnasium, a theater, secure courtyards and more in a plan that has been years in the making. The vision also includes a new sports field house for the high school. Early estimates put completion sometime in 2026.
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New Leach School coming to Bear
In 2021, the Colonial School District announced it would build a new school, with 100% state funding.
The John G. Leach School, more than 60 years old on Lander’s Lane, has long served students from across the state with a variety of disabilities and other conditions. But its current building no longer met its needs. Design work began, along with input from staff and the community, and the school system previously had its eye on 2024 for the start of construction.
This capital spending bill provides approximately $37.5 million to start.
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Towards a new Sussex Tech campus
A new complex for Sussex Technical High School has long been under consideration.
This bond bill shows that about $57 million in combined state and local funding will go toward the project in the next fiscal year. Last year, the district’s school board unanimously approved plans for the project, which is estimated to cost more than $200 million.
The sprawling campus is set to house a new three-story high school and much more.
Smyrna renovates existing school, starts new construction
The expansions to Clayton Intermediate, the future high school in Smyrna, will total about $17.1 million in combined state and local funds under this spending plan, while a new high school will receive just over $8.8 million.
The latter saw the support of local taxpayers earlier last month.
Citing the “urgent need,” the district held a second chance referendum to secure local funding for the new school, to meet classroom capacity needs with more than 600 new students. With just 22 votes to make the difference, Smyrna voters approved the boost.
According to the school district’s website, the school will have a 65,000-square-foot footprint, 26 classrooms, a media center, a gymnasium and more for fourth- and fifth-graders.
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Renovations galore in Red Clay
Nine different school buildings in the Red Clay Consolidated School District are also on the schedule for the 2025 budget year.
That’s about $8.7 million in this spending plan. In total, DOE approved about $192.3 million in state funds for Red Clay renovations last fall in certificate of necessity applications, with projects spread out over the next few years. That’s about 29 buildings slated for impact.
To date, this bill names renovation projects at AI duPont, Brandywine Springs, Dickinson, Heritage, Johnson, Lewis, McKean, Mote and Stanton.
For more information about other projects and expenditures in the Bond Act, please read the text on the General Assembly website.
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Got a story? Contact Kelly Powers at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.
This article originally appeared in the Delaware News Journal: Delaware school projects see major investment in 2025 bond bill
