MANSFIELD — Mansfield Christian School is launching a capital campaign to grow its Logan Road campus.
Supt. Cy Smith announced the public launch of a $30 million drive during the school’s annual banquet earlier this month. The campaign seeks to fund a three-phased facilities project. Each phase carries an estimated price tag of $10 million.
The first phase focuses on the construction of a new high school building to the east of the existing K-12 facility.
The proposed new building will include 16 classrooms, a cafeteria, rooms for intervention services, study rooms, counseling offices and dedicated spaces for the high school’s career academy and media production programs.
“The academic wing is the first. That’s the most pressing need, of course, is classrooms,” Smith said. “We have three modular units out back. We’re at capacity.”
Beyond the high school expansion, the district also plans to renovate its current building. School officials said this will enhance elementary programs and provide dedicated middle school facilities. The updated middle school wing will include renovated science labs, an art room and a STEM space.
Smith said the project’s first phase will allow the school to lower its student-teacher ratios, provide K-8 students with their own cafeteria and eliminate the need for modular classrooms.
Smith said the school has already raised $5 million in committed funds.
In June, state Senator Mark Romanchuk announced the school would receive $1.5 million from Ohio’s One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund.
According to a press release from Romanchuk’s office, the funds were designated to add classrooms and cafeteria space in order to serve more students and provide a new Career Academy Program designed to connect students to local employers.
Renderings of the new proposed facilities at Mansfield Christian School. Credit: Mansfield Christian School 
Renderings of the new proposed facilities at Mansfield Christian School. Credit: Mansfield Christian School 
Renderings of the new proposed facilities at Mansfield Christian School. Credit: Mansfield Christian School 
Renderings of the new proposed facilities at Mansfield Christian School. Credit: Mansfield Christian School
“We’re deciding at this point how much we want to raise before we break ground, but our plan is to try to break ground in the 2025-2026 school year,” he said.
“We would love to be in that building the 2026-2027 school year.”
Smith said the school is currently at capacity with 870 students enrolled. The new high school building will likely raise the district’s capacity to between 1,200 and 1,300 students.
“We’ve grown 75 percent in the last six years,” he said. “We’ve been averaging over 10 percent growth a year.”
Smith said the school’s capital campaign is the most ambitious in the school’s history.
“This is not a 5- or 10-year dream. This is something that needs to be immediately constructed so that we can continue to keep up with demand,” he said.
“We are a Christian school for Christian families and we really want to continue to educate as many as we can.”
Secondary school principal Marty McKenzie said the project’s education benefits will be significant.
“Adding additional modern learning spaces will improve our technology integration and broaden class offerings,” he said. “We will be able to protect our students and staff with enhanced safety features and provide a positive learning environment that can contribute to better student engagement, improved academic performance and a stronger sense of belonging to the Mansfield Christian School community.”
Future phases would include a new fine arts facility, high school gymnasium
The second and third phases of Mansfield Christian School’s capital campaign will be the construction of a new fine arts facility and new high school gym.
Smith said which one is built first will likely be determined on the school’s most pressing need.
“Phase II and Phase III will really depend on the available monies at the time and what’s a bigger priority, the gym or the auditorium,” Smith said.
The new fine arts facility will include band, choir, art, and theater spaces alongside a 1,000-seat auditorium, which Smith said will enrich the chapel experience and community gatherings.
“We’ve never had an auditorium and we desperately need one,” Smith said. “We have to outsource everything.
“Graduations and programs, school plays — anything we do with a significant crowd, we have to find a church or a community (space).”
The new high school gym will have expanded seating, larger locker rooms and advanced training facilities. Once it’s constructed, middle school programs will move to the current secondary gym.
More information about the capital campaign is available on the school’s website.