A new $80 million medical magnet high school in Wesley Chapel will train Pasco County students in nursing and simulated surgical labs. The district is targeting a fall 2028 opening.

The school will sit on a nearly 75-acre, district-owned site off Meadow Pointe Boulevard near Double Branch Elementary, according to Wesley Chapel Community. It will open with room for about 1,300 students and be free to any student living in Pasco County.

Programs will center on nursing, medical lab science and imaging, according to Tampa Bay 28. The campus will include labs built to simulate surgical and operating room settings.

Superintendent John Legg has framed the project around workforce demand, pointing to a projected need for 30,000 new health-care jobs across North Tampa Bay in the next five years. "We want our students here in Pasco County to be front of the line for those jobs," Legg told Tampa Bay 28 reporter Annette Gutierrez in an Aug. 12 report.

The school site sits near several major medical facilities, including AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel and Florida Medical Clinic Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital.

Why now

The district accelerated the project by roughly two years because of enrollment pressure. Wiregrass Ranch High School was operating at roughly 143% of capacity and Wesley Chapel High at about 134%, making them the two most crowded high schools in the county, according to Wesley Chapel Community. Together, the two campuses are over-enrolled by more than 1,200 students, the Tampa Bay Beacon reported in May, with the potential for another 2,700 within their boundaries as more housing is built.

Cypress Creek High, which opened in 2017 to relieve nearby overcrowding, already sits at 96% capacity.

Funding

The project is funded through the Penny for Pasco sales tax, local property taxes and support from area medical partners, Legg told Tampa Bay 28. Pasco voters renewed the Penny for Pasco surtax in November 2022, extending it for 15 years. The school board receives 45% of those collections, according to the district's 2026-2027 tentative budget.

In 2025, the district secured a $500,000 planning grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, in partnership with AdventHealth, to design the health-care-focused program, according to Wesley Chapel Community.

Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC) President Eric Hall has voiced support for the school, describing it as a way to create a pipeline for students interested in health-care careers tied to PHSC's nursing and allied health institute at its Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch.

What's still unknown

The district has not released architectural renderings, a groundbreaking date or a formal enrollment application process as of Sept. 21. Legg told Tampa Bay 28 in August that students in seventh grade now may want to start considering whether the school is the right fit ahead of its projected 2028 opening.

The district's tentative budget also lists a Two Rivers K-8 campus anticipated to open for the 2028 school year alongside the new high school.