Gadsden County Superintendent Elijah Key had a lot to say at last Thursday's Legislative Priorities Workshop.
His focus for this year—securing enough money for the school district so that Quincy can have their new K-8 school completed by 2026.
“We got to have something in order to keep our schools updated," Key said. "We have been putting band aids on things, and somewhere down the line, we have to correct them.
Gadsden County doesn’t produce much tax revenue, which Key said is the main reason for the project being delayed. It’s his hope that the district will get $40 million from the Florida Legislature during the 2025 legislative session to finish the job.
The school district received $70 million over the past two years to get the project off the ground. The county started building last August, but now they’re needing additional money to cover what’s now become a $110 million project.
“We already knew that the original amount that they gave us, which was $70 million, was not going to be enough," the superintendent said. "Costs right now are being estimated at about $110 million for the entire project.”
Quincy’s K-8 school will go where Shanks Middle School currently sits. It will replace Gadsden Elementary Magnet, George Munroe Elementary, Stewart Street Elementary, and James A. Shanks Middle Schools—several aging buildings in the area.
The state-of-the-art facility will feature classrooms equipped with the latest technology, dedicated spaces for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, libraries, multipurpose spaces, and recreational areas.
The school district needs to finish the project sooner rather than later, to avoid losing the money all together.