By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City School System will fund roofing projects at multiple school buildings this fiscal year, while still working to complete its new high school project, according to a five-year capital plan the city’s Board of Education approved during a Sept. 12 meeting.

Each year, school systems throughout the state are required to submit their five-year capital plans with the State Department of Education outlining funding amounts, funding years and years of expected completion for their capital projects.

The major ACS capital project, as in the past few years, remains the construction of a new 370,000-square-foot high school off Thompson Road. Crews have been working on the project for the past several months, and the school is expected to open to students in the fall of 2017.

ACS included $85.5 million in funding for the new school during its 2014 fiscal year, which came from a portion of the $120 million in bonds the school system issued in 2014.

The capital project also included renovations to the current Thompson High School facility, which will serve as the city’s sixth grade center and middle school once the new high school is completed. The school system included $4 million in funding for the renovations in 2015, and the project is expected to be completed in 2017, according to the capital plan.

Also on track to be completed in 2017 are renovations to the current Thompson Intermediate School, which likely will one day house the school system’s central office. The school system included $1.58 million in funding for the project during its 2016 fiscal year.

The 2017 fiscal year, which will begin Oct. 1 of this year, will include $1 million in funding for multiple roofing projects throughout the school district. Those projects likely will be completed in 2018, according to the capital plan.

During the 2018 fiscal year, the city is planning to allocate $3.5 million for information technology needs, and is planning to allocate $500,000 for additional IT needs during the 2020 fiscal year.

During the 2019 fiscal year, the school system is planning to allocate $500,000 for HVAC projects in the district. Also during the 2020 fiscal year, the school system is planning to allocate $1.25 million for a roofing project at the current Thompson High School.