Lancaster schools look to bonds to address growth

Voters in Lancaster County will be asked next year to support a school bond referendum largely to meet needs in growing Indian Land.

School officials have just started the referendum process, appointing a committee to assess school needs throughout the county. By Dec. 8, the committee will recommend to the school board a list of projects to include in the referendum. The board would then need to approve that list and formally call the referendum before voters would have their say.

Tentative dates for a bond referendum are March 22 or April 5.

Superintendent Gene Moore said a proposed referendum likely would include projects across the county to gain widespread support.

But Moore was clear: Growth in Indian Land has outstripped the school system’s ability to make improvements without voters signing off on issuing voter-approved debt.

“We have large needs, and our ability to pay is limited,” Moore said. “We need a cost-effective way to deal with growth.”

A bond referendum likely would include a new school in Indian Land, Moore said, as the schools there are at or near capacity:

▪ Indian Land High School was built for 850 students. Its enrollment this year is 839. It can be expanded to 1,200 students.

▪ Indian Land Middle School has an enrollment of 894. Construction of an addition to accommodate 400 more students is scheduled to start in December.

▪ Harrisburg Elementary School, which opened two years ago with a capacity of 970 students, now has an enrollment of more than 1,000.

The cost of building a new elementary school would be about $18 million, Moore said, with an annual operating cost of about $1 million.

State law allows school districts to borrow up to 8 percent of the assessed value of property in the district without getting voter approval.

In previous years, Lancaster County has used that borrowing authority to pay for improvements such as new roofs and mechanical systems at various schools.

“Most of our schools are in good shape mechanically,” Moore said.

Other needs the facilities committee will likely consider, Moore said, are a fine arts center at Andrew Jackson High School in Kershaw and implementing a 1-to-1 program to assign a laptop or computer to each student. The estimated cost for a 1-to-1 program in grades 3 through 12 is about $6.1 million, Moore said.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Lancaster schools look to bonds to address growth."