The SCC Files: Getting REALLY expensive to build this stuff NOBODY asked for

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Folks in and around Moore County have been hearing about this proposed “innovative high school”  on the campus of Sandhills Community College.  They also heard, I’m sure, about the $25 million grant that area legislators snagged from the state treasury for the purpose of building this project.

The purpose of the school has been a bit ambiguous – some might say *flexible.* Now, it appears to be for the purpose of teaching trades so kids who may not be suited for four year liberal arts college can market themselves for future employment. Vocational education?  *Silly me, I thought that was what community colleges were supposed to have been doing all along.*

College leaders recognized their dream was going to cost more than $25 million. New construction on the Sandhills campus, to some, may seem like a waste.  One can randomly walk into an existing campus building on Airport Road and find it — at best – 20 percent occupied. ( I’m not aware of anyone with Sandhills conducting any kind of serious study of existing campus space.)

We heard big talk about an amphitheater, an athletic field, and a school building.  Now, that has evolved into two buildings – a high school and a trades building — and a new road connecting to NC 22.

Here’s the latest on what the sleep-walking college board of trustees were told about the *innovative high school* project at a July 9 Grounds Committee meeting:

This project is supposedly an equal partnership between the college and Moore County Public Schools. The schools are supplying all of the staff and their operating expenses for the new school. The college’s role is to give them buildings to work in.

All that is in the bank for this new school is $25 million.  That’s IT.  Where is the remainder coming from? 

There has been talk that the college trustees will actually turn to the Sandhills Community College Foundation — the college’s fundraising arm — for a healthy contribution  to cover the above-mentioned “unidentified funds.”

If I read the above excerpt from college records correctly, $38 million covers merely the cost of designing this new school project.  We’re apparently not yet talking construction costs.  You’re easily looking at tens of millions to construct two new buildings and a connector road to the highway. It’s tough to get an accurate estimate of construction costs until a finished set of plans is produced and priced by construction professionals.

So if we’re interpreting this all correctly – for this “Innovative High School” to become a reality, a source for this additional $13 million for “the design phase” needs to be identified.  Once that’s done, the mission turns to finding someone to pay the bill for constructing it all.

(Even if you’re not building the WHOLE shebang at once, you still need to lay out designs showing how it all eventually comes together and fits together. )

It also appears — according to the above excerpt — the college thinks it needs an additional $41 million to move beyond the design phase.

Note that the college feels comfortable using space in Van Dusen Hall to house the Innovative High School for “at least” two years.  (Why not more?)

Edu-crats and politicians are getting a nice, new fancy taxpayer-funded gift to play with. Yet, we’ve not been shown that this won’t turn into yet another under-utilized monstrosity on the Sandhills campus. Nor has it been demonstrated that there is a real need for this or that the taxpayers have even asked for it.