The Planning Services area is responsible for (1) accurately projecting future school enrollments, (2) precisely identifying future facility capacities and locations required to house and support CMS students and staff (3) producing the Long Range Facilities Master Plan (10-Year Plan) and (4) Capital Budget Documentation and Request.

Additionally Planning Services is responsible for Cost Estimating.  Based upon historical bid prices the department develops an estimated cost for each project. Since design has not occurred, the basis of this estimate is the integration of needed square footage, current bid prices for similar projects and the rate of inflation.

Formulating a capital improvement plan and long-range facilities plan requires analyzing a significant amount of data, some of which directly impacts parents, students and other community members. Projection data from economists, local agencies and the work of the CMS Planning Services and Human Resources Departments are all analyzed to project needed capacity at each school.  This information is used to develop a plan for the county-wide location and construction of new facilities and additions to existing schools to address growth. It is important to note here that the basis of the calculation is a projected household count produced by the Charlotte Department of Transportation.  This projection is the basis of all countywide planning.

Using information gathered by Building Services personnel, prioritized renovation and refurbishment projects are developed.   Each facility must be completely renovated once every thirty years to ensure continued suitability.  A recent change to CMS planning, initiated by the department, groups the new construction and renovation projects in order of priority in the Ten Year Plan.  This list is then refined through a series of public meetings before being presented to the Board of Education (BOE) for adoption.