Booming growth fuels $786 million effort to build and expand Manatee County schools

Sarasota Herald-Tribune | By Jesse Mendoza | February 2, 2022

A development boom in Manatee County is creating demand for new schools to serve the droves of residents moving into the community.

The Manatee County School District plans to spend more than $786 million during the next five years to add space for 4,810 new students by either expanding existing schools, building new schools, or replacing older schools. 

The district also approved a charter school in Lakewood Ranch slated to open this year.

Mike Pendley, the executive planner for the School District of Manatee County, presented an update on the progress to county and city officials at the quarterly Council of Governments meeting Tuesday.

“Manatee County is experiencing historic growth, especially in terms of residential growth,” Pendley said. “The school district is aggressively trying to keep up.”

New schools strive to meet demand

Most of Manatee’s residential development is out east, where new homes in massive communities like Lakewood Ranch and North River Ranch are leading the population boom.

The district is planning the construction of two new schools to serve residents of those communities.

The district already funded the design of a new middle school in North River Ranch to accommodate 1,253 new students. The property is under contract, and the district aims to close the deal this year, Pendley said.

The district also has funded the design of a new kindergarten through middle school in Lakewood Ranch to serve 1,500 students.

“This is the first time we will build a K-8, at least in modern times,” Pendley said. “We have two K-8s, but those started out as something else. One started as an elementary, one started as a middle school, and then morphed.”

The district also approved the creation of a new K-12 charter school, the Lakewood Ranch Charter Academy, to meet demand. Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes, who previously served on the school board, drew attention to the effort during Tuesday’s meeting.

He estimated the campus will accommodate 2,100 students, and he said it would focus on science and health by leveraging partnerships with LECOM and other higher education institutions.  

He said the first phase of the effort, a K-6 school, is slated to open this year.

Hopes said that the model for that school could be used to meet demand from a growing student population in the future. 

“They are planning these large developments, these large communities, and in my humble opinion, the school district didn’t need to be building these schools,” Hopes said. “The developers should be building these schools on land in their development, then they could decide whether they want the school district to operate the schools, or charter operate the schools.”

“There are innovative solutions to getting us to where we need to be,” he said. “I do believe there is a solution in the private market that can develop a more innovative model for ensuring that we have facilities to accommodate all this growth and deliver an excellent education, and it all doesn’t have to be on the backs of the taxpayers.”

Campus expansions in the works

The district is renovating schools throughout the county to keep up with population growth.

The district plans to add capacity for an extra 498 elementary school students through planned expansion projects at Freedom, Williams, and Tara elementary schools. A renovation of Witt Elementary already has been completed. 

Capacity at the district’s middle schools is set to grow, with projects at six different campuses to add space for 2,062 more students, including renovations at Braden River and Sugg middle schools now underway. The district also funded or is in the process of designing renovations at Buffalo Creek, Haile, and Nolan middle schools.

At the high school level, the district has expansions planned to add space for 750 students. The district funded an effort to build 10 classrooms to accommodate 250 additional students at Braden River High School and is designing the addition of 20 classrooms at Lakewood Ranch to accommodate 500 additional students.

This district also is already starting discussions about potential additions at Parrish Community High School.