Marble – Cherokee County Schools may not allow its students to use artificial intelligence to complete their assignments, but that didn’t stop the school district from using AI to evaluate proposals to consolidate schools.
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The board of education received a report Thursday evaluating five school consolidation plans, with findings generated by the Claude 3.7 Sonnet artificial intelligence system. Data from a dozen sources was input for the AI analysis, including enrollment, staffing, building square footage, a draft long-range plan, funding scenarios and five consolidation plans under consideration by the board.
The school board requested a financial evaluation of the consolidation plans after the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners rejected a plan from the school district to build and reorganize school facilities in the Murphy area. The five plans evaluated by AI were:
- Proposal A: A grades 6-12 consolidated school done in a single phase with additional renovations as proposed by school board member Jeff Tatham. This is the plan that was rejected on a 5-0 vote by the board of county commissioners.
- Proposal B: A comprehensive school consolidation done in three or more phases as proposed by school board member Steve Coleman.
- Proposal C: A phased school consolidation done in two major phases.
- Proposal D: A consolidated plan with shared athletics facilities done in three phases.
- Proposal E: A consolidated plan with shared athletics facilities and elementary schools.
Funding sources include needs-based state grants of $62 million for a high school and $52 million for a middle school, local matches of up to $3.1 million and debt service of loans needed to cover funding gaps.
The smallest funding gap would occur with Proposal A – the one rejected by county commissioners. It assumes one needs-based grant for a high school. The total cost would be $159.3 million, with a funding gap of $74.2 million.
The biggest funding gap comes from Coleman’s plan. The total cost would be $427.2 million in current dollars, assuming that the county would qualify for two needs-based grants, one for a high school and one for a middle school. The plan would have a funding gap of $280.5 million.
Proposal C would cost $215.1 million with a funding gap of $81.3 million. Proposal D would cost $261.5 million with a funding gap of $106.8 million. Proposal E would cost $381.6 million with a funding gap of $177.8 million.
The report includes disclaimers. “While this AI-generated analysis demonstrates strong internal consistency and provides a structured evaluation of the consolidation options … this is not a substitute for professional expertise.”
Parts of the report, including traffic and transportation analyses, would require detailed studies, it said. Financial projects should also be verified.