Parents of students at Read-Pattillo Elementary in New Smyrna Beach are pushing Volusia County school officials for answers after learning the school's long-promised new building is missing from the district's current five-year plan. The school, built in 1958, was slated to receive a new building funded in part by a voter-approved half-cent sales tax, but families say the district recently told them that project is no longer moving forward.
Volusia County voters first approved the half-cent sales tax on Oct. 9, 2001, and extended it for another 15 years on Aug. 26, 2014, running from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2031, according to Volusia County Schools. The extension was estimated to raise roughly $480 million for the district, money meant to fund capital improvements including school renovations, expansions, security upgrades and new construction through 2031. As reported by WKMG, Read-Pattillo is now absent from the district's five-year plan, and the 2025-2026 plans list its replacement project status as TBD.
Parents fear the school could close without a replacement ever being built, a concern WKMG reports is driving the frustration among families who say a school rebuild funded by a sales tax is now uncertain. The district has pushed back on the idea that closure is imminent or decided. Per a district message dated Oct. 8, Volusia County School District said no decision has been made to close Read-Pattillo Elementary.
Why The Rebuild Stalled
Read-Pattillo is one of two remaining schools in the district without a new or remodeled building, according to the station's report. A district spokesperson told WKMG that public school enrollment and education today are not the same as they were in 2014, when the sales tax was first approved, suggesting shifting enrollment patterns have complicated long-standing building plans. The district's planning horizon stretches out to 2031, according to Danielle Sandhagen, who said the five-year window still reaches that year — the same year the half-cent sales tax itself expires.
The push to replace Read-Pattillo has deep roots. Years earlier, the eventual plan had always been to open a new school in Venetian Bay that would replace Read-Pattillo, according to a 2018 report from news-journalonline.com. But even then, there was no firm date for that project, since enrollment in the area was not increasing as fast as the district had expected. At that time, the district said it was not recommending any consolidation of Read-Pattillo with Chisholm Elementary.
A School Board Decision, Not A Done Deal
Any proposed changes to the Read-Pattillo replacement project must be presented publicly to the School Board, and the board must approve project changes through a formal vote, per WKMG's reporting. Historically, that authority has rested squarely with elected board members: the 2018 report noted that the School Board ultimately has the power to decide if and when the school will close, and then-Superintendent Tom Russell said at the time that he would not recommend closing Read-Pattillo.
District and community meetings are also part of the discussion around Read-Pattillo. The Volusia County School Board has scheduled a workshop at 2:30 p.m. and a regular session at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, giving the public a formal opportunity to weigh in, according to a meeting notice from Volusia County Schools.
Aging Campus, Ongoing Site Problems
The 2018 report also detailed longstanding physical constraints at the existing Read-Pattillo campus, noting the school sits in a flood zone, has limited parking and faces a number of traffic problems — issues that originally helped drive the push for a new building altogether. A community Project Oversight Committee made up of residents who do not work for the district is tasked with overseeing how half-cent sales tax dollars are spent, according to Volusia County Schools.
Budget pressures have also shaped the conversation around Read-Pattillo in the past. The 2018 report noted that budget concerns were what drove renewed discussion of consolidating Read-Pattillo and Chisholm that summer, after the School Board had dipped into reserves to cover a $3.21 million deficit. Over the first 15 years of the half-cent sales tax, the district completed 18 new schools and 14 school renovations, per Volusia County Schools, underscoring how much construction the tax has funded elsewhere even as Read-Pattillo's own project remains unresolved.
