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STARKVILLE – Bids for construction of primary educational facilities at the new Starkville High School site off Highway 182 open this month, according to the district’s timeline.
Projected to open summer 2028, the estimated $127 million project will mark the first traditional public high school built on a college campus, specifically on the north edge of Mississippi State University’s campus.
Why is the school on a college campus? What will the project entail when it comes to student opportunities? How closely will MSU work with the school once it’s completed?
What’s included and how much will it cost?
The high school, which will sit just next to the district’s Partnership Middle School, will be completed in three phases, with the first including tree removal and earth work needed to prepare the site. This phase, which is underway, will cost about $7.9 million.
Phase 2, which bids open for this month, will include the primary academic space on campus, including a 227,000 square-foot facility with classroom wing and common lab spaces, administrative offices, two gymnasiums, a cafeteria with an outdoor patio and a courtyard connecting the classroom wing with common spaces.
The facility will also include a performing arts center tackling three areas of the arts: theater, music and visual arts, according to the district’s webpage dedicated to SHS construction.
The theater wing will feature a 900-plus seat auditorium with a full stage with lighting and sound as well as backstage dressing rooms, scenery shop, costume and prop areas. Additionally, a Black Box theater will provide an option with more flexible seating.
In the music wing, students will have access to two band halls, a music library, dressing rooms, choral spaces and individual and group practice rooms for rehearsals.
In the visual arts cluster, there will be a group instructional arts studio and computer lab spaces, along with a wood shop, a photography lab and dark room and a sculpture lab and kiln room.
Construction for Phase 2 carries the highest price tag, currently estimated at $99.2 million.
The final phase, projected to cost $19.9 million, will tackle remaining athletic facilities, specifically a field house and a covered practice field and outdoor track. Bids for Phase 3 open March 2027.
What’s the benefit of locating on MSU’s campus?
Unlike the extent of MSU’s presence at the Partnership School, which has space dedicated to give education majors observation opportunities, the new high school will not have additional MSU presence or facilities devoted to teacher training outside of hosting student interns as the current high school does each year.
“The new facility will connect to the Partnership School and we will continue to work out details related to the current MSU College of Education presence in that part of the facility, but there are no other facility requirements related to our partnership with MSU,” Haley Montgomery, communications director for Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, wrote in May in an email to The Dispatch. “There is no new construction dedicated to the partnership with MSU, and nothing has been added to the building for MSU partnership purposes.”
Likewise, Montgomery said there is no new construction dedicated to the partnership with MSU, and nothing has been added to the build for partnership purposes, though the university did donate the tract of land on which the school will sit – valued between $5 million and $10 million.
The biggest impact of the district’s partnership with MSU is the high school’s proximity to campus, Montgomery said.
“And the opportunities that will afford students to take dual enrollment courses, utilize university lab and research spaces, experience STEM opportunities, and interact with professionals and instructors in a variety of fields of study,” she said. “Those don’t carry a construction cost, but the value they provide to students has a long-term return on our community’s investment.”
Just how large is that community investment, and is it set in stone?
Current projects for the high school land total construction cost at about $127 million. To foot that bill, the district intends to issue a $101 million general obligation bond, with the capacity to borrow an additional $24 million if needed. Local property taxes will pay off that debt over up to 27 years, making a tax increase likely.
Also on hand, the district received $4 million from the state earlier this year for the project.
Montgomery did note, however, that current phases account for the district’s “dream items” at the new high school. The district has the “capacity to scale back if needed” during construction, she said.
“We’ve specifically asked our construction manager to put dollars to as many aspects of the project as possible so we have a realistic understanding of what to expect during the bid process,” Montgomery said. “They’ve looked at specific materials cost comparisons, contractor services from their previous experience and comparable projects to give us what we hope is a very close estimate of what actual costs will be – with a standard amount of contingency factored in.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
