Tax dollars bringing renovations for Duval Co. schools, resulting in relocation of some students

Meghan Moriarty
·2 min read

Your tax dollars are now bringing major changes to Duval County Public Schools.

Under the district’s master plan, 28 replacement schools will be built. Some students will have to report to other schools, temporarily, while renovations occur.

This project stems from the half-cent sales tax approved on the 2020 ballot.

“We need more schools, number one, in the area for these kids,” Tina Newton said. Her grandchild attends Ribault Middle School—one of the schools impacted.

The funding will go toward school renovations and rebuilding. This includes mergers of smaller schools, new school parameters and temporary school assignments.

READ: Duval County Public Schools sets up webpage to share updates about construction of new schools

Some projects are getting started as early as this school year. It creates a complicated web of moving students around.

Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary students are attending Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary for the 2022-23 school year, according to a DCPS spokesperson.

The following year, Highland elementary school students will head to Martin Luther King Jr. as well, while their renovations begin.

Students at Ribault High School will attend Ribault Middle School for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. Ribault Middle students will head to Sallye B. Mathis for those two school years.

Sallye B. Mathis students will attend Rufus E. Payne Elementary School for the 2023-24 and 2024-2025 school years. Students will return to their original campus in August 2025, with the opening of the new Jean Ribault High School.

Chaffee Trail Middle School will be a new 6-8 facility on the Westside. It’s expected to be complete in 2024. Charger Academy students will have the option to attend the new school, Westside Middle or Westview.


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