During the 1997 Special Session of the Florida Legislature, Florida Statute 235 was amended to require each school district to develop and approve a district five-year capital outlay work plan. The plan must be submitted to the Department of Education prior to October 1. The plan must include a schedule of all major repairs, renovation, and new construction projects planned, and information about class size and the use of portable classrooms in the school district. The capital outlay revenue of the district during the plan must be projected. All projected new construction must not result in the district creating an inventory of student stations that is in excess of the Capital Outlay Full Time Equivalent (COFTE) students projected by the Department of Education. The COFTE projections do not include pre-kindergarten students, adult, hospital/homebound, charter, or McKay Scholarships and are based on cohort projections from the annual live birth rates within the school district.

As required by our interlocal agreement, the tentative work plan is reviewed and discussed with other public agencies in the county including Hillsborough County, the Planning Commission, and the Cities of Tampa, Plant City, and Temple Terrace. Comments from these entities include: 1) "(local) development activity does not coincide with the State's projected decline in student enrollments;" 2) "if (local) growth continues to mirror comprehensive plan projections, then demand for school facilities may be higher than the State's forecast;" and 3) "the School Board traditionally undertakes a major renovation of existing buildings approximately every 25 years. Currently, there is not sufficient revenue to keep up with that schedule."

After finalization of the District budget and debt service requirements, adjustments have been made to the work plan approved on July 29. As a result of revenue adjustments, ten previously unfunded renovation projects are now funded necessitating adjustment or elimination of some maintenance projects to align with related renovations.

The attached work plan is presented in the Department of Education format and differs from the tentative plan approved on July 29. All information in the tentative plan is included in this format.

The plan identifies $284,460,405 in funded maintenance and major repair projects. An additional $176,115,899 in new construction, renovation and remodeling projects are identified. Sufficient revenue is projected to be available for those projects. One renovation project totaling $11,907,248 is not funded.