Orange County Public Schools Building Projects Move Forward
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
By: Matthew Peddie

January 9, 2013 | WMFE- The Orange County school district is pressing ahead with 12 school construction projects over the next academic year. Public school building and repairs are keeping local contractors busy during the sluggish economic recovery.

The list of projects includes repairs and replacements at old campuses like Eccleston Elementary which is being torn down and completely rebuilt.

Bob Lipscomb from the Williams Company which is in charge of the project, says Orange County has more public school building projects than other counties in Florida.

“So for us, for the local companies like ourselves- our company’s been here since the 1920s, we’ve been around a long time- it’s a big plus for the local general contractors here,”says Lipscomb.

He says the Eccleston project is providing about 250 direct construction jobs.

Orange County Public Schools funds its building program through a half penny sales tax approved in 2002.

Lipscomb says he’d like to see that tax renewed when it expires in 2015.