Fayette

County's Board of Education has approved a

modified five-year facilities plan that provides

for additions to three middle schools and asks

for state funding for three new elementary

schools.

Before

it can be implemented, the plan must be approved

Fayette County School Superintendent John

DeCotis. "It demonstrates the need for the

capital growth money we get," he explained.

The

school facilities plan for 1999-2004 was revised

to accommodate the growing student population,

DeCotis said.

"Five-year

plans never last five years," added Mike

Satterfield, facilities director for the school

district, who estimated that the plans have to be

revised about every two years.

Adding

on to J.C. Booth, Whitewater and Fayette middle

schools is the top priority in the plan.

Whitewater is expected to gain about 18

classrooms, Fayetteville Middle 20 classrooms

including science labs and a cafeteria addition,

and Booth about 20 classrooms including a science

room. Total cost of the additions will be between

$5 million and $6 million in state growth funds,

Satterfield said.

The

add-ons will eliminate the portable classrooms at

the middle schools, but will do little to

increase student capacity, except at Whitewater.

Satterfield

said the project should provide space for about

300 more students at Whitewater and may provide

relief at Rising Starr Middle School, which

already has eight portable classrooms. The word

"redistricting" was never uttered by

either the board members or staff, but it was

implied.

Construction

is expected to begin on the school additions in

about eight weeks and should be completed by

August 2001, Satterfield said. The 100 portable

classrooms owned by the school district will be

shuttled among the elementary schools in need of

extra space until the new schools can be

completed.

The

distribution of funds by the state Board of

Education to school districts is based on student

enrollment figures averaged over 10 to 15 years.

As a result, DeCotis explained, state plans and

fund allocations allow districts to build for the

number of students they have, not the number of

students a system plans to have in the future.

Last

week, Satterfield said the state approved the

district's allocation of instructional units. He

said when the state does an update on the

district's five-year plan, "We should pick

up a couple million more in state funds,"

Satterfield said.

While

particular schools in the Fayette County system

are experiencing overcrowding, Satterfield said

the state "looks at the entire school system

and distributes the students among all the

schools." That means if Fayette County High

School is over capacity and Sandy Creek High

School is under capacity, the state won't pay for

more instructional units at Fayette County High.

The

solution based on state formulas is to

redistribute the student population to even

things out.

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