Louisa Weighs Plan for Less-Expensive School

By Calvin R Trice

A new plan proposed yesterday for a much-needed elementary school would cost Louisa County about $5 million less than a plan announced earlier this year.

Kevin Linhares, the Louisa director of facilities management, presented a plan to the Board of Supervisors to build the new school for $19 million. Earlier this year, supervisors rejected a School Board plan to build a new school for $24 million.

The Board of Supervisors agrees with local school officials that because of Louisa’s growth, a new school is necessary. However, the cost has been a point of contention between supervisors and the School Board.

Louisa’s population grew by more than 20 percent from 2000 to 2006. The county’s school enrollment this fall is expected to be around 4,600, almost 200 more students than at the start of the last school year.

Linhares’ estimate was for an 85,000-square-foot school housing 700 students. He advised supervisors that construction would have to begin by the first of next year for the school to open for the start of the 2009-10 school year.

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