Chester County schools to ask voters to OK $116.5 million bond for upgrades, facilities
The Chester County School District is asking voters to approve a $116.5 million bond referendum for improvements at all three high schools, a new career center and a performing arts center.
The vote is Feb. 4. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To find the proper location, call the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Chester County at 803-385-2562.
“We put together the best plan we thought would meet our prominent needs right now,” said Superintendent Angela Bain.
The bond includes a property tax increase for Chester County residents, Bain said. The increase would amount to $14 more a month on a $100,000 owner occupied home by 2024, she said.
The referendum comes after voters denied a $38 million bond in 2018. That proposal did not include a property tax increase and was to be used for maintenance, renovation and upgrades to the district’s schools, and to build a new workforce readiness center, The Herald previously reported. Chester County School District’s last successful bond referendum was in 1996, according to the district.
A group of residents led a “vote no” movement against the last bond, saying it did not meet the interests of Great Falls and Richburg area residents, The Herald reported in 2018.
School district leaders have worked since then to gather community feedback on what should be included, Bain said. The district conducted facility needs studies, updated their demographic information and held public input meetings before choosing the current plan.
“The career center is our top priority. The building is in such bad shape,” Bain said. “We can’t continue to put band-aids on what’s crumbling.”
The new plan retains three separate high schools, Bain said.
If passed, there will be no attendance zone changes, according to the school district.
“We heard the public loud and clear,” Bain said.
The $116.5 million bond referendum includes:
▪ $41.2 million for a new Chester High School across from Chester’s York Technical College campus, about three miles from the current school.
▪ $9.8 million for a stadium and outdoor athletic complex on the new Chester High School campus. The complex will include a regulation track facility for use by all schools and a 4,000-seat stadium.
▪ $19.6 million to build a new Chester County Career Center next to the new Chester High School.
▪ $10.1 million to renovate the Great Falls Complex. Great Falls High School would be demolished. Great Falls Elementary School would serve 4-year-old kindergarten through sixth grade. The Great Falls middle and high school complex would convert to a seventh through 12th-grade campus. A new high school wing will be constructed to serve athletics, music and ROTC.
▪ $1.4 million renovations to the Great Falls high school stadium and athletic facilities.
▪ $1.9 million to add four classrooms to Lewisville Elementary School.
▪ $9.5 million to expand cafeteria and classroom space at Lewisville High School.
▪ $4.6 million to upgrade athletic facilities at Lewisville High.
▪ $12.3 million to build a performing arts center at Lewisville High School to serve all Chester County students. It includes a 1,000-seat theater that would host district plays, concerts and school-related functions.
▪ $6 million for furniture, equipment and property.
More details are available on the bond referendum page of the Chester County School District’s website.
