LRSD builds new school at Taylor Loop.

EXPANSION IN THE EDUCATION industry is not exclusive to private schools.

The Little Rock School District is gearing up to start site work in December on a new elementary school at the southwest corner of Cantrell and West Taylor Loop roads.

The school, which will teach pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, will be a neighborhood school for the area and relieve overcrowding at Fulbright and Terry elementary schools, said Tiffany Hoffman, spokesperson for the school district. The schools are using a total of six portable buildings that currently house nearly 500 overflow students.

The district expects the new school to be open for the 2010-11 school year.

Although the design won't be finished until sometime this week, the two-story school should be about 140,000 SF, said Wayne Adams, director of maintenance and facilities. The district anticipates spending about $22 million on the building, including about $2 million in construction management and design fees. Construction should begin in March 2009.

The structure will sit on about 20 acres that cost the district $5.6 million.

The road work to create a turn lane on Taylor Loop Road, improve Taylor Loop and Forrest Lane roads and put a traffic light at Cantrell and Taylor Loop roads is under way. However, the traffic light will not become active until just before the school opens, Adams said.

The maximum capacity of the school, which has not yet been named, is 895 students. The zoning for the school has not yet been established.

The Little Rock School District also opened a new early childhood development center at 11100 Chicot Road in southwest Little Rock, offering a pre-kindergarten program for 3-and 4-year-olds.

The 21,250-SF facility, which is an extension of Chicot Elementary, has 12 classrooms. The Chicot Early Childhood Center cost $3.2 million.

The school has a maximum capacity of 246 students. Enrollment has already begun.