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Osceola School District officials broke ground in February on a new K-8 school in the Kindred neighborhood. That $75 million project is among a number of projects being planned, designed or opened at a total cost of $919 million in construction. PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
In a county that is growing at breakneck speed, the school district is scrambling to keep up. From 2010-22, Osceola’s population nearly doubled (269,841 to 422,545), a 46% growth figure—during that same period, the population of the US grew by 7.7% and Florida by 18.
And, it shows up in the county’s crowded schools.
With such an influx of residents in a relatively short period of time, the school district has found itself in a building frenzy. At an Osceola County School Board workshop last week, Chief Facilities Officer Dave Sharma gave board members a construction update on the county’s current projects, which total nearly a billion— with a ‘B’—dollars.
With five projects in planning at a cost of $20,377,500, 26 projects in design at a cost of $390,480,315, and 31 projects under construction at $508,349,586, the current program adds up to $919,207,401.
Some of the projects in design are the new High School ‘AAA’ on Nova Road, valued at $184,048,359, and the new K8 ‘DD’ School near the Roan Bridge community off Old Hickory Tree Road southeast of St. Cloud, valued at $73,495,989. Sharma explained that the ‘DD’ School project has faced delays, possibly due to changes made last month to the State’s ability to issue permits for wetland mitigation.
“A federal court put a stop on the Department of Environmental Protection from issuing any permits for wetland mitigation,” Sharma said. “They never said who can go do it, and that’s a part of our challenge right now. All of our permitting was going through the State, but now there is a court case that pretty much put a stop on any project that has a wetland that you have a permit in progress or you’re applying for a permit,” he said. “We anticipate that the responsibility is going to be moved to the Army Corps of Engineers, for them to issue permits, but they are so understaffed in the state of Florida that we think that the timeline for them to issue a permit is going to be significant. We were around six to nine months with the State … we think it’s going to be closer to a year and a half, two years.”
Also in design, along with those two schools, are the Reedy Creek Elementary renovation ($59.9 million) the Osceola County School for the Arts renovation costing ($57.4 million) and miscellaneous smaller projects.
Sharma went on to discuss projects currently in construction, including the Gateway High School renovation, a $103 million project which will be completed this summer. Construction of K8 ‘AA’ School in the Kindred neighborhood ($74.6 million), which broke ground a month ago, is underway, as are new K-8 schools in Knightsbridge off Poinciana Boulevard and Sunbridge off Cyrils Road, which cost $143 million combined.
Also opening this summer are the NeoCity Phase 2, which cost $37.3 million, the St. Cloud High School addition, which added 21 classrooms at a cost of $14.17 million, and various other projects including HVAC, kitchen renovations, and parking projects.
Sharma also discussed some of the construction challenges the district has faced; supply chain shortages have caused long delays in acquiring HVAC and electrical equipment; commercial building is at an all-time high, which is driving pricing and lead times because there is such need for material; and competition for laborers and materials due to four mega-projects—projects costing a billion dollars or more each— currently in progress in the state of Florida.
