Stafford County’s board of supervisors on Tuesday night approved spending nearly $9 million on county school needs.
The supervisors voted to budget $3 million to buy a warehouse on Blackjack Road, $3.1 million to purchase Chromebooks for students and $2.5 million to buy land for the rebuilding of Drew Middle School.
Of those three projects, the warehouse purchase generated the most discussion. The supervisors voted 4-3 for that action, which uses surplus funds from fiscal year 2024.
The Stafford school system currently leases most of the building at 42 Blackjack Road for $125,000, but the property’s owner wants to sell the structure.
If the school division isn’t able to continue leasing, it would have to find another place for storage — which takes up 6,000 square feet — and for bus driver training and office space, which takes up 5,000 square feet.
And the best lease deal the school system could find for another space was more than $200,000 per year, Deputy Superintendent and Chief Operating Officer Chris Fulmer told the supervisors.
The schools could also continue to lease a portion of the building that’s now occupied by other renters, who pay $38,400 per year.
Board of Supervisors Vice Chairwoman Tinesha Allen said the purchase made financial sense.
“If you did the math, within 10, 15 years, this will pay for itself versus if we kept paying a lease, it will exceed the amount in that time,” Allen said.
Others didn’t agree with making the purchase. Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yeung, who voted against, along with Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke and Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch, was concerned about losing the $13,000 per year real-estate tax revenue the county gets from the building. That sum wouldn’t be collected if the locality owned it.
She also said the school division’s “primary mission is education, not property management.”
For a while on Tuesday, it seemed like the purchase wouldn’t happen. Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English, for example, said perhaps the money would be better spent on maintaining buildings the county already owns, though, he said he also was persuaded by the school system’s reasoning for seeking the land deal.
“I see both sides,” English said.
In the end, he ended up casting the deciding vote when Fulmer assured him that the county government could probably use part of the building in the future, as well.
On the Chromebooks, the supervisors voted 6-1 in favor of the school division’s request, which also used surplus funds from fiscal 2024.
Board Chairman Deuntay Diggs said the issue was simple, both from an economic standpoint and an educational one.
“If you take any classes, you understand that books cost more than Chromebooks,” he said. “And kids need to learn how to use technology. Everything’s going to technology. You’re going to McDonald’s to order something, and you’ve got to use technology now.”
However, Vanuch, who cast the sole dissenting vote, said the money could be better spent elsewhere, perhaps on school building maintenance.
The vote to buy land for the new Drew Middle School, which uses money set aside for property purchases in the county’s Capital Projects Fund, was unanimous. The land to be purchased consists of about 58 acres known as Oak Knoll Farm at the intersection of Clift Farm and Leeland roads.
Bohmke, who represents the area, said residents who live near the site have some concerns, but that school officials simply have to work with them.
“There’s never any perfect school site out there,” she said.
In other business Tuesday, the supervisors:
- Voted unanimously to spend $231,444 to renovate the upper level of the Potomac Hills Fire and Rescue station to create an emergency medical services training center.
- Agreed in principle to move forward with a plan to put solar facilities on retired cells at the R-Board Regional Landfill and at the former Cool Springs Road landfill.
