April 13, 2023 – Right now, the plot of land adjacent to Chaffee Trail Elementary School is just dirt and grass. But by August 2024, it will be a 125,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art middle school serving sixth-eighth grade students on Jacksonville’s fast-growing westside. Funded by the half-penny sales tax, the new Chaffee Trail Middle School is the […]
Read More
Jan. 20, 2023 – The construction of the new Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary School recently reached a new milestone. The building’s structure is in place and a roof now lies on top of the new school facility. It’s a point of progress in the construction industry that usually calls for celebration, and that’s exactly what […]
Read More
Nov. 14, 2022 – With active construction underway on one full school replacement and design reveals held for three other full school replacements and one brand new school, the district is passing many milestones in its 15-year master facilities plan. These projects are funded by the half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2020. Besides […]
Read More
October 18, 2022 – Alumni, staff, students, and district leadership recently celebrated the unveiling of Riverside High School’s new artificial turf field. The Generals are the first Duval County Public School to have their field upgraded to an AstroTurf playing surface. The installation project has been in the works for several years. The new field […]
Read More
July 12, 2022 – Historic facility improvements, security projects and school rebuilds are in development as planned as Duval County Public Schools’ half-penny funded master facility plan begins to work through year two. Revenue continues to exceed projections Funds collected through the voter-approved, half-penny sales tax exceed the original project budgets. However, market inflation […]
Read More
May 23, 2022 – Dozens of families, community members, dignitaries, and school and district staff celebrated a historic moment on Friday at the formal groundbreaking ceremony of the new Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary School, which will be the first major rebuild under the district’s master facilities plan. The new elementary school is expected to open […]
Read More
March 10, 2022 – When Duval voters approved a voluntary half-penny sales surtax in November 2020, they also launched a new body of citizens to oversee the use of the revenue and hold the school district accountable to the promises it made to voters. That body, the Sales Surtax Oversight Committee, has issued its first […]
Read More
Feb. 16, 2022 – On Nov. 3, 2020, voters overwhelmingly approved a voluntary half-penny sales tax to fund a historic facilities improvement program for Duval County’s public schools. Just over a year into the half-penny project, district staff and contractors have been working tirelessly to advance the design, development and renovation of schools across the […]
Read More
May 3, 2021 – To help the community see exactly how revenue generated through a voter-approved sales tax is being used to improve Duval school buildings, the district has launched a new monitoring tool. Available at https://dcps.duvalschools.org/Page/29838, the new surtax dashboard provides the timelines and expenditures of all the projects funded through the half-cent sales. […]
Read More
June 2, 2021 UPDATE – The information in this post is no longer accurate. It is being saved for archive purposes. An updated post will be available early June. April 1, 2021 – A recurring question at recent community meetings hosted by the district has been whether money from a half-cent sales tax will be […]
Read More