Students at Capitol Hill High School walk into a brand-new building for the first time Tuesday, trading aging classrooms for a $116 million, three-story campus built with a 2,000-seat gymnasium, a state-of-the-art fine arts wing, and a college and career center designed to prepare graduates for the Oklahoma workforce. The opening caps years of construction tied to Oklahoma City Public Schools' historic 2022 bond package.
According to KFOR, Oklahoma City Public Schools unveiled the new campus ahead of the first day of classes, calling it a cutting-edge educational facility and a centerpiece of the community in a district press release. The 193,200-square-foot building includes a central outdoor gathering and learning street, secured by fencing, that links the cafeteria and athletic areas, according to MA+ Architecture, the firm that designed the facility. Flintco managed construction on the project, which represents the single largest capital investment in the district's bond package.
Junior America Fuentes told KFOR the new school is bigger and offers more opportunities than the previous building, rating her excitement about the campus a ten on a scale of one to ten. Principal Dr. Shari Gateley described the new campus as transformational, saying per the station's report that the new spaces develop skills that make students immediately ready to enter industry, and that students' skills will remain transferable if their aspirations or goals change.
A $955 Million Bond Behind the Build
The new Capitol Hill campus is funded by a 2022 bond, per the same account, and represents the flagship milestone of a $955 million bond initiative that Oklahoma City voters approved by more than 60% across two propositions that November, according to Oklahoma City Free Press. It marked the largest bond package in district history. To keep construction on pace for the August 2026 launch, the OKCPS Board of Education approved a $500 million lease-purchase agreement with the Oklahoma Industries Authority in April 2024, as Hoodline previously reported.
Getting to opening day required tearing down pieces of the old campus first. Construction crews began the internal demolition of the school's historic Field House and Sports Arena in July 2025 to clear space for the new building, Oklahoma City Free Press reported, with district officials asking neighbors and families to stay alert around the heavy machinery during that phase. Inside the new gymnasium, the district preserved a piece of that history: memorabilia from the old field house, including its scoreboard, is now on display.
New Wings for Arts, Career Training, and Athletics
The new building includes new choir and band rooms alongside a fine arts wing anchored by a 925-seat auditorium with a full stage. Capitol Hill also offers hands-on film production courses as part of its expanded academic lineup. The 2,000-seat, game-day-ready gymnasium gives the Red Wolves — the mascot the school adopted in 2015 after district discussions about Native American imagery, per Wikipedia — a modern home court.
A new college and career center rounds out the campus, offering culinary, carpentry, and horticulture classes alongside coursework aimed squarely at the Oklahoma workforce. It is part of a broader district push: John Marshall Enterprise High School is also receiving a new college and career center, which will offer aviation and healthcare-focused courses, Hoodline has reported.
Serving a Diverse South OKC Community
The new facility serves one of the most ethnically diverse attendance areas in the state. During the 2023–2024 academic year, Capitol Hill High School enrolled 1,552 students, with minority enrollment exceeding 93% and a Hispanic student population of 75%, according to Wikipedia. The original Capitol Hill High School opened in 1928 as the first high school built south of the North Canadian River, in a landmark building designed by prominent Oklahoma architect Solomon Andrew Layton, per Preservation Oklahoma. The long-term fate of that 1928 building remains an open question and has been a focal point for local preservationists and alumni.
The Capitol Hill opening arrives alongside another major shift in South Oklahoma City schools. OKCPS also launched the new Skyline Middle School for the 2026–2027 school year, combining the student bodies of Capitol Hill Middle School and Wheeler Middle School under the same 2022 bond program. Both projects fall under the watch of Superintendent Dr. Jamie Polk, who took office in July 2024 and received a contract extension from the school board in January 2026 that runs through June 2029.
