Goochland County sets hearing on school addition, CTE planning funds

A $2.7 million planning request could set the pace for Goochland’s next big school decision, but it does not yet authorize construction. The Board of Supervisors is set to hold a public hearing July 7 on whether to transfer and appropriate up to $2.7 million for architecture and engineering services tied to a possible Goochland Middle and High School addition and Career and Technical Education center.

For families watching overcrowding, class access and future tax bills, that distinction matters. The money would pay for the technical design work needed to define what could be built on the Goochland Middle and High School campus, likely including layouts, utility needs and other engineering work that must be completed before supervisors can decide whether to move ahead with a building project. It would not, by itself, approve the addition, the CTE center or any final construction contract.

The request landed alongside a packed June 2 meeting agenda that also included updates on the website dashboard, Station 8, the May Virginia Department of Transportation report, the June fire-rescue report, April and May agricultural activity, planning and development work and the county’s June 2 quarterly broadband report. That broader docket shows school facilities are being weighed alongside roads, emergency services, agriculture and growth management across Goochland County.

The planning step also fits into a larger capital program already outlined by Goochland County Public Schools. The division says its Capital Improvement Plan covers additions, renovations, new facilities and equipment over the next 25 fiscal years. County school pages say the 2021 bond referendum passed overwhelmingly and would make up to $60 million available for school capital improvements, including an addition to the high school for Career and Technical Education and STEM instruction, a new auxiliary gymnasium and wrestling room, classroom and fine arts renovations, and a new 650-student elementary school near Steeplechase Parkway to replace Goochland Elementary School, which the county says is 64 years old.

That work was already moving before the supervisors set the hearing. Goochland County Public Schools posted RFP 2026-16 for architectural and engineering design services on March 23 and followed with Addendum No. 1 on April 9. The division describes CTE as high-tech, hands-on learning designed to prepare students to be college and career ready, and Goochland is one of Virginia’s 15 School Divisions of Innovation, a designation that gives the proposed expansion added weight as the county weighs academic space, workforce training and long-term capital costs.