County commissioners have approved Guilford County Schools' funding increases for several projects to renovate and rebuild several schools Thursday night. This is all related to the almost $2 billion school bond referendum that Guilford County voters approved last year. The increased the amount of bond funds for the projects does not impact the amount of bonds already approved by voters, the county said.The goal is to rebuild three new schools and demolish and rebuild 19 others.The renovations are something Superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley said is desperately needed.“Peck Elementary, for example, went from 1999 to 2019 without any capital investments and so they really are calling for it," Oakley said. Funding for these projects was previously approved by county commissioners in April of 2021, just a month after voters approved a $1.7 billion bond referendum. The original amount of each project was based on the project budget in the Guilford County Schools Master Facilities Plan that was issued in 2019.However, the project costs have gone up due to rising construction costs and design changes.Kiser Middle School, Claxton Elementary School, Brooks Global Studies, Peck Expeditionary Learning School, Foust Gaming and Robotics School, and Hampton/Peeler k-5 VPA are the project ordinances that require price increases. Guilford County School officials provided a presentation to commissioners on Thursday depicting revisions needed to those existing project ordinances and 12 new projects. The total for the 12 projects is $92,000,000.The 12 new projects include Bessemer Elementary, Joyner Elementary, Lindley K-8 School, Northwest Middle School Replacement, Northwood Elementary, Shadybrook Elementary, Sumner Elementary, Swann Center 6-12, Vandalia Elementary, Deferred Maintenance, Safety and Security Enhancements and Technology upgrades. “We wanted to really make sure that we were able to marry the needs that we had from pedagogy and safety and security, as well as just what we're seeing from you know the world and where we want our, our students to grow into, but also how do we couple that with where we need them to be as far as a budgetary standpoint," Michelle Reed, Guilford County School's chief operating officer said. Oakley said, “you know this is a long time coming and it's gonna take lots of working together I think this market is making something that was already complex even more complex."