Florida Statute 1013.31 requires all school districts to complete an educational plant survey once every five years. On November 6, 2007 the School Board appointed Optimum Facilities, LLC to conduct Hillsborough County's survey. The survey establishes the condition of existing facilities, the needs of facilities for repair, major renovation and remodeling, the need for new classroom space and new schools. In addition to the usual information, this survey incorporates facility assessments, recent demographic information, and site visit interviews with administrators.

Individual recommendations include scopes of work based on the Department of Education (DOE) student projection for Hillsborough County of 198,851. To provide adequate facilities for these students, the survey recommends construction of three elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. In addition, expansion of existing schools is projected to include approximately 1,548 new student stations.

Survey recommendations are a current snapshot of construction needs. Health, life, safety, and maintenance projects do not require a survey recommendation and are not included. As future needs change and student populations grow, a spot survey of individual sites will be approved by the Board and submitted directly to DOE. Recommendations comply with State requirement and support the Board's philosophy to remove student stations from portable classrooms.

The Educational Plant Survey recommends construction costs of new schools and the expansion of existing facilities are estimated to be $400,315,496 over five years. Available funding will be derived from state and local resources.