Forsyth County schools approve $13.2 million for new turf fields

Forsyth County Schools has approved a $13.2 million turf package that will put synthetic surfaces on district baseball and softball fields and extend turf to some practice fields, a spending move that works out to roughly $314,000 per school across 42 campuses. For families and taxpayers, the issue is no longer whether fields should be upgraded, but why this athletics work rose to the top now and what the district expects to gain from it.

The school board voted Tuesday, June 17, to use SPLOST money for the project, shifting a routine-sounding maintenance item into one of the district’s larger capital decisions of the year. The contract went to Shaw Sports Turf, and district officials said the award reflected references, prior work with Forsyth County Schools and bid cost. The district also said bundling the work with one vendor helped secure a discount and build in maintenance and possible upgrade provisions.

Forsyth County Schools’ ESPLOST VII project list already had the work on its roadmap under a project labeled Turf High School Athletics, calling for artificial sports turf at all high school baseball and softball fields and turf on non-turf practice fields. That matters because it shows the district is not treating the project as a one-off purchase. It is being folded into a broader facilities strategy tied to field use, scheduling reliability and upkeep costs.

The timing also comes as the district is juggling much larger needs. A 2026 facilities plan totals $474 million over five years, and district planning materials have also pointed to new schools, additions, HVAC work, transportation needs and even elementary play-area turf allocations. In that context, the turf vote is one more claim on sales-tax revenue that could otherwise be directed to classroom space, buses, building systems or capacity expansion.

Forsyth County Schools says it is Georgia’s 5th-largest public school district, serving more than 55,300 students in 42 schools. That scale helps explain why field decisions can ripple across the system. A more durable playing surface could mean fewer rainouts, more predictable access for baseball and softball programs and less day-to-day field maintenance, but it also raises the basic public question of how long the fields will last and how the district will measure the payoff.

There is also local precedent. North Forsyth High School needed an emergency turf-related field replacement after tornado damage in July 2023, showing how synthetic surfaces can become part of both planned upgrades and recovery work after severe weather. For Forsyth County, the latest vote locks athletics infrastructure more firmly into the district’s long-term capital agenda, alongside the schools, roads, systems and growth pressures that compete for the same dollars.