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Long Range Facilities Planning

Long Range Facility Planning Committee

The Long Range Facility Planning Committee is a group of community members, parents, city leaders, business owners, and Joplin Schools staff members who volunteered to evaluate district properties in order to create a Long Range Facility Plan to guide our Capital Projects for the next 5-15 years. The most recent version of this Committee began meeting in 2023 and has toured every district campus and facility, comparing educational suitability, program needs, student demographics, safety, and projected student enrollment data. 

View the 2025 LRFPC Report

 

 

A group of LRFPC members attend a committee meeting in the NMSlibrary setting.

Parameters of the Committee’s Work

  • Focus on educational suitability and space for all students
  • Focus on adequate minimum standards for Special Education environments and intensive programs
  • Early Childhood/PreK expansion
  • Gain stakeholder input for future new construction and facility addition decisions
  • Reflect bond and other funding scenarios that minimize the taxpayer burden
  • Ensure that funding over time supports the sequence of school improvements

Resources Used by the Committee

  • School Facilities Condition Assessment & Priorities Report 2020-2025
  • Tours of ALL Joplin Schools facilities
  • Facility size and capacity analysis
  • Review of operational costs per elementary building
  • Climate & Culture survey results
  • Demographic Study Report completed in 2019 & 2022
  • Facility Standards presented to BOE in 2011
  • Financial Condition for long term capital planning
  • Costs analysis for remodeling and new construction options

Preliminary Findings

  • Robust process in place for allocation of maintenance capital expenditures
  • Classrooms between similar sized buildings are not educationally suitable (ex. bathrooms in K classrooms, square footage of learning spaces)
  • Annual Capital Outlay funds are insufficient for major new construction across all buildings (ex. Remodel and adding additions)
  • District is currently a good steward of facilities (clean and well maintained)
  • There is a lack of space for specials and therapies (art/music/OT/PT)
  • There is a lack of space across the district for intensive special education programs (ex. many buildings do not have adequate space for special education programs)
  • There is a lack of space for preschool (0-3 and 4 year old classrooms)
  • There is a need for additional space across the district for co-curricular activities, athletic programs, and 9-12 instructional space
  • Capital Outlay funding is available, and Bonding capacity exists for a no-tax rate increase bond issue to complete identified projects