The Tuscaloosa County School System took a step toward building additional schools by moving forward with a bond sale to finance the projects.
On Tuesday, the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education approved a resolution that would authorize financial planners Raymond James & Associates to move forward with a bond sale worth up to $85 million. The bond would provide financing for the construction of the new Holt High School, a career and technology annex at Tuscaloosa County High School, a new school in Northport and a new Sipsey Valley Middle School.
"After you approve this, Raymond James will begin bond sale this week," TCSS Superintendent Walter Davie told the board.
Davie said that during a work session on May 30, Raymond James representatives would inform the board about the results of the sale. From there, the board will make a final approval about the bond.
Back in January, the board approved the projects to move forward with the bond. The new Holt High will cost around $27.8 million, the new Northport school will cost about $24.2 million, the career tech center will cost $4.9 million and the Sipsey Valley school will cost around $19.7 million.
Specifically, the career tech center will house four programs while the new Northport and Sipsey Valley schools will be built to hold about 1,000 students each.
The new Holt High school, which will hold more than 500 students, is expected to be completed in August 2018 while the other schools are tentatively set to be open sometime by the start of the 2019-20 school year.
In other business, the board approved an agreement with the city of Tuscaloosa for water service at the new Holt High, authorizing a payment of around $310,514.02.
