ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — As one school year ends, planning for the next school year and beyond continues.
In places with rapid growth like Port St. Lucie, the question is how to keep up to make sure that as families move to the area, their kids have a place to learn.
On Wednesday morning, there was a field trip, not for the students, but for the St. Lucie County School Board, along with district leaders and local business officials.
The bus tour took them to meet developers and see where their future students will be coming from.
“What does 50,000 or 60,000 homes look like? Ultimately people are moving here and they’ve got to have a place to go to school,” Superintendent Dr. Jon Prince said.
Even in places where there are fewer students, new communities can still be valuable.
“We get the tax value, the ad valorem millage, without any impact to schools adding new students,” Marty Sanders, executive director of Growth Management, said.
Right now, there are 42,000 students in St. Lucie schools and while there is some growth in the Fort Pierce area, it pales in comparison to what’s happening in Port St. Lucie.
Two new K-8 schools are planned for the southwest part of Port St. Lucie, the first to open in 2026.
Groundbreaking for a new high school in Tradition will happen soon. It’s anticipated to open in 2025 with an expected student enrollment of about 2,000. Fort Pierce Westwood high school will also be getting a makeover for 2026.
After the bus tour, back at district headquarters, there was also discussion of transitioning at least one existing elementary school into a K-8 school, and possibly putting on the 2024 ballot, a half penny sales tax referendum, two years ahead of schedule.
“The purpose of that is we’re in the middle of all this aggressive construction," Prince said, "so, we can clearly communicate to our voters exactly what they’re helping us pay for.”
The school board agreeing to move forward to explore some of these ideas to get the district prepared for the years and decades ahead.
“We need to make sure that the whole entire process is in place," School Board Chairman Troy Ingersoll said, "so, the community will be a better place in 2050, not 2024 or 2025.”