Edwards AFB completes educational complex

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  • By Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) --  

Junior Miss Edwards Hailey Shartzer cuts the ribbon to officially open the new Desert Jr./Sr. High School on Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 9. (Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem)

Junior Miss Edwards Hailey Shartzer cuts the ribbon to officially open the new Desert Jr./Sr. High School on Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 9. (Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem)
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The Department of Defense celebrated the ribbon cutting for the Desert Junior Senior High School on Edwards Air Force Base, Aug. 9. The event completes a $180 million, 220,000-square-foot replacement educational complex in response to the Secretary of Defense prioritizing the location to remedy condition and capacity problems at the facility. The overall effort was enabled through the Department’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Public Schools on Military Installations Program and will support the education of 1,600 students in grades K-12 annually.

"With completion of this complex, our service members and the civilians and contractors who support them can be assured their dependents will have access to quality state-of-the-art educational facilities for years to come,” said Patrick J. O’Brien, OLDCC director. “We are happy to have enabled the completion of this 10-plus-year effort by the Muroc Joint Unified School District in partnership with the local Edwards AFB leadership and countless state officials over this period to respond to these needs.”

The Muroc Joint Unified School District, the local education agency, operates five schools across more than 550 square miles in Kern and San Bernardino counties. Three schools - Forbes Elementary, Desert Junior Senior High School, and Irving L. Branch Elementary - are on Edwards AFB and were reconstructed with OLDCC support after being prioritized by the Secretary of Defense for improvement due to serious condition and capacity issues.

The district received $142.5 million in grant funding from OLDCC that was matched with $37.2 million from non-federal, state, and local sources. These funds helped to address several serious condition and capacity issues, including expired building systems, seismic concerns, foundation failures, localized flooding, and functional deficiencies in food service, information center, special needs, and music.

Without the continued support and advocacy from Congress, the Department of the Air Force, partnerships between the community, service members and their families, the district, and the State of California, this project would not have come to fruition.

"This new school is a reflection of the Muroc Joint Unified School District's commitment to world class education for our local communities,” said Kevin D. Cordes, Muroc Joint Unified School District superintendent. “We are proud of the collaborations and work that took place to make this vision into a reality."

The new educational complex will significantly improve the quality of life for military dependents and families, help with recruitment and retention of pilots and improve the mission readiness of the base. It will also provide incentives for retired pilots to remain and seek employment opportunities in nearby Palmdale, continuing support for the Edwards mission.