MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) — Madison City Schools will soon add an eighth elementary school to the district.
At the meeting on March 9, the Madison City Schools Board approved purchasing bonds to pay for a new elementary school.
In an interview with News 19, Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said the financing was because of their bond rating. “We were able to borrow due to our rating that we had for the district bond, $60 million dollars.”
However, he anticipates the price tag of the new school will be somewhere “probably in the upper $40 million dollar range.”
Superintendent Nichols said construction costs have driven up that overall price tag. For reference, he told News 19 that Midtown Elementary School, which is the newest elementary school in the district, cost somewhere in the “$29 million dollar range” to build.
The $60 million won’t solely be spent on a new elementary school. Nichols said other schools in the district, could also use some help.
“We’ve got schools that have been online now for about 25 years, and 30 years and they need a little work, so we’ll be able with a little flexibility to do that now,” he said.
As of now, Madison City Schools is still in the “planning and designing” phase of the new elementary school. However, the land that sits in Limestone County, has already been annexed by the City of Madison and purchased by Madison City Schools.
The new school will be built off of Madison Branch Blvd., which will be a branch off of Hardiman Road, about a mile west of County Line Road.
Since it is to the west of County Line Road, it will be the first Madison City Schools elementary school that isn’t in Madison County.
“All of our elementary schools are on the eastern side of County Line,” said Superintendent Nichols.
He said building a new elementary school in that area is much needed, especially with the rapid development of new homes in that area.
Nichols also said the new school will help ease the load off of other schools which are nearing capacity.
“Currently we have a capacity of about 5,800 [elementary students], were sitting at about 95% of that capacity already,” he said.
Superintendent Nichols said the district will look at the plans for the most recent elementary school and see where they need to make some changes. He said adding STEM areas and setting aside room for specialty classes will be part of the planning process.
Nichols said he anticipates the new elementary school will open for the 2025-2026 school year.
Until then, Journey Middle School will hold the title of “newest” school within Madison City Schools.
Nichols said construction is wrapping up nicely. He said it is still on track to open for the Fall 2023 school year.
In order to prepare for that upcoming school year, MCS is already preparing to hire new staff members.
It is hosting a job fair for transportation, custodians, and CNPs on March 28. The job fair will be from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. at 211 Celtic Blvd. in Madison.
It is also hosting a career fair for teachers on April 20. The career fair will be held in the gym at Midtown Elementary from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
