Last month, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District board approved a $101 million bond for a new high school. (The district can borrow up to $125 million if needed, and officials have signaled they intend to use that full amount.) District officials defended the sticker-shock cost by explaining that building costs have risen considerably in recent years.

In 2018, New Hope students moved into their new high school, which cost $24.3 million to build.

That means the new Starkville High will cost four, maybe even five times more than New Hope High School. Starkville High has about 600 more students than New Hope, but that doesn’t account for the disparity. Neither does inflation.

A $101 million project today would be the equivalent of a $79 million project in 2018 dollars, which is still three times what it cost to build New Hope High.

At the bargain-basement price of $101 million, Starkville will be the most expensive high school in Mississippi. (And that’s not likely the final price tag.) Hernando, located in the fastest growing county in the state, moved into a new $93 million high school in 2025.

The cost of the new Starkville High also includes $4 million in state funding and a donation of land from Mississippi State University valued at $5 million to $10 million.

Potentially, we could be looking at a new high school whose full cost runs from $115 million to $139 million.

You would think that the district would be prepared to present details about its plans, but so far it has been vague at best. Last week, Starkville Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins asked a series of pointed questions to district officials about the lack of information. He’s not the only one asking those questions. Despite Dispatch reporting on this bond going back more than a year, citizens have recently voiced concerns in both public meetings and on social media, saying they had no idea about the planned cost of the new high school.

After initially trying to justify its estimate on the higher construction costs alone, the district’s most recent explanation is that, in addition to building costs, its current plan is a “wish list.”

It begs the question: To whom is the district taking its wish list? Santa Claus? It’s not a wish list if you are the one in charge of the money. That’s called a budget, and this one is funded by taxpayers.

You cannot attribute the increase in cost to meeting the needs of a significantly expanding enrollment. Starkville has seen a modest increase in population since 2020. Municipal tracking and forecasting tools from World Population Review project the population of Starkville to increase by only about 600 people by 2036.

Data from the Mississippi Department of Education show the state has already lost nearly 70,000 public school students since 2013, with the vast majority of its 113 school districts seeing drops – some experiencing enrollment plunges of up to 40%.

Starkville is not immune to these declines.

At a time when Starkville property taxes are already expected to increase by as much as 20% as the state’s updated assessment is applied, the additional cost for paying off the school bond – about $180 for the average $277,000 home – is like salt in a wound.

SOCSD wants its district to have a cutting-edge school to fit their growing district. That’s perfectly reasonable. It’s also reasonable for taxpayers to expect clear plans and explanations.

It’s past time for district officials to stop being coy about this project.