Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has been awarded $23,798,603 in grant federal funds by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) which will be combined with $5,949,651 in non-federal matching funds to construct a new elementary school at the U.S. Army installation at Fort Belvoir and to renovate the existing elementary school at the base.
The grant will fund renovations at the existing school as well as construction of a new school with 20 general education classrooms with a projected completion by the start of the 2016-17 school year. Fort Belvoir Elementary School serves military-connected students in grades K-6, and has a program capacity of 1,102 students. The new school will create a total available capacity for approximately 1,594 students, which will allow FCPS to address both current and future capacity issues and allow for enrollment growth.
“These funds will enable FCPS to meet the growing enrollment at Fort Belvoir by providing additional capacity for the children of our active duty military personnel,” said FCPS Superintendent Karen K. Garza. “Overcrowding has been an ongoing issue at Fort Belvoir Elementary and, as a temporary solution, we moved some students to schools off the base. Fort Belvoir officials and FCPS agreed that base students should remain on base property and the grant funding will enable us to educate all base residents on Fort Belvoir property.”
Funding for the grants is provided under the DOD’s Public Schools on Military Installations program. Priority consideration is given to military installations with schools having the most serious capacity or facility condition deficiencies. More information about the program is available online.
Fort Belvoir Elementary School, which opened in 1998, replaced three elementary schools on the U.S. Army base. The school received a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) grant from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in 2010, and has a STEM lab, science center, and STEM resource teacher who works with all students.
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Note: For more information, contact the FCPS Department of Communications and Community Outreach at 571-423-1200.
http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2582