Carrollton Middle School’s building addition opened for the 2025-2026 school year.
To begin the 2025-2026 school year, Carrollton City Schools has finished construction on a new addition at Carrollton Middle School. Built to accommodate future growth and expansion of course offerings, the wing was funded by ESPLOST and includes 26 classrooms as well as offices and meeting spaces.
The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Education, ESPLOST, is a 1-cent sales tax that is presented to the voters via referendum every five years. ESPLOST allows school systems to fund facilities, technology, safety resources, and transportation, supporting school infrastructure needs as a direct result of community growth. Accommodating a growing student population requires more space, and these valuable tax dollars made the CMS addition possible.
The structure houses academic, laboratory, and elective courses. Centralizing academic teaching teams promotes even more efficient planning and support for students. With subject-area teachers now located together, collaboration is strengthened.
For further benefits to student achievement, the expansion debuts new band, performing arts, family and consumer science, video broadcast, computer science, and art classrooms. The purposeful design of the new building promotes learning while providing functional space; for example, the spacious chorus room has state-of-the-art acoustics and has choral risers that do not restrict the instructional area.
“This project is a direct investment in our students,” said Superintendent Dr. Mark Albertus. “By expanding our facilities, we’re not only keeping pace with growth, but we’re also enhancing the learning environment so every student has the space, tools, and opportunities to explore their interests.”
Along with classroom spaces, the project allowed for improvements to existing structures, including expanding cafeteria seating, enlarging the weight room for physical education, designating a multi-purpose space, and adding new locker rooms designed to serve as tornado shelters in severe weather.
“This addition represents our commitment to providing the gold standard of middle grades education,” said CMS Principal Eric Simmons. “By stewarding our resources well, the refurbished spaces are more functional while the new spaces allow students to explore their passions and build academic skills that will serve them well in high school and beyond.”
