Round 2: Why Chester County residents don’t agree on proposed $116M school bond
If you drive by Lewisville High School in Richburg, S.C., you’ll see signs reading “vote yes” and “vote no.”
The signs reflect Chester County residents’ polar reactions to a proposed $116.5 million school bond referendum.
The Chester County School District is hoping to pay for a new Chester High School, a district-wide performing arts center, upgrades and expansions to multiple schools and athletic facilities and a new Chester County Career Center. Voters will decide this week whether the bond is approved for the district to take on that debt.
The vote is Feb. 4. Polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. To find the proper location, call the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Chester County at 803-385-2562.
People supporting the bond have commented on the school district’s Facebook page that upgrades are needed.
Those against the bond have said the proposed spending favors the Chester High School area and does not meet the needs of students at Lewisville and Great Falls schools.
The bond would include a property tax increase for Chester County residents, according to referendum documents posted to the district’s website. Taxes will increase slightly each year starting in 2022. The maximum increase, which would come in 2020, would amount to $14 more a month on a $100,000, owner-occupied home.
That tax increase has prompted concern among taxpayers. The Chester County School District has 78.8% of students living in poverty, according to the 2018-2019 South Carolina report card.
School board chair Anne Collins said the projects included in the bond were identified following assessments of the district’s facilities.
“We have truly done our due diligence looking at what is needed,” Collins said. “Nothing on this referendum would be considered unnecessary.”
Collins said the district prioritized projects, with the career center making the top of the list followed by a new Chester High School.
“Both facilities are in dilapidated condition,” she said. “They are first on our list.”
More programs would be offered at the new career center, Collins said.
“We know right now there are jobs out there no one even thought about while I was in high school,” she said. “We know that is a continuing trend. We have to prepare our students to be ready to learn those new skills.”
The bond includes $19.6 million to build the new career center and $41.2 million for a new Chester High School across from Chester’s York Technical College campus.
Chester Senior High Principal Duane Graham shared his school’s needs during a parent night Thursday. He said the current facility, built in 1974, poses security challenges and is plagued by roof leaks, bugs and mice.
“There are over 70 doors in our building,” Graham said. “It’s almost impossible for me to lock down this place.”
A new school would address those security concerns, officials say.
Small classrooms, stained ceiling tiles and floors and poor wall conditions make it hard for Chester High to attract teachers, Graham said.
Lisa Killian, whose daughter De’lisha Killian is a junior at Chester High, said it is time they got a new school. Killian also graduated from Chester High.
“If we don’t get a new school, they are going to have to get a new roof, period,” she said. “You’ve got mold all around the school.”
De’lisha, 17, said she has seen mice and roaches in her school and places where the ceiling is falling in.
“It’s real bad; we’ve been needing a new school,” she said.
Chester High School served 842 students in 2018-19, according to the S.C. school report card. Lewisville High School, built in 1972, served 380 students in 2018-19 and the Great Falls High and Middle school complex, built in 1964, served 380 students in 2018-19.
Familiar debate
Richburg resident and Lewisville High School alum Nathaniel Liming said the bond doesn’t put educating students first.
“All these upgrades don’t fix the South Carolina state report card. If you look at from 2019, the district’s rated pretty low,” he said.
The Chester County School District had a mix of ratings from “Unsatisfactory” to “Excellent” on the latest report card, The Herald previously reported.
Liming, 27, has a four-year-old son at Lewisville Elementary.
Liming said he would like to see the career center and performing arts center money instead be allocated to schools.
“We’ve got to get education in the area before we even worry about a performing arts center,” Liming said. “The students come first, not the facilities.”
A similar debate dominated 2018, when voters denied a $38 million bond.
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.
A group of residents led a “vote no” movement then, saying it did not not meet the interests of Great Falls and Richburg area residents, The Herald reported in 2018.
Of the about 21,000 registered voters in Chester County, 1,853 ballots were cast in the 2018 bond vote.
The 2018 bond captured about 990 votes opposed to, and 863 votes in favor of, the bond.
Of the Richburg residents who voted in 2018, the majority voted against the bond, according to the Chester elections office. The same goes for Great Falls voters.
Chester school board member Sandy Lovern, who represents the Lewisville area, voted in August against the newest bond moving forward. Lovern said she believes the school district has not looked at all available options.
“I don’t feel like this is the right plan. There’s definitely a better plan out there,” Lovern said Monday in a phone interview.
The plan includes $12.3 million to build a performing arts center at Lewisville High School to serve all Chester County students.
Collins, who taught for more than 30 years, including in Chester County, said the performing arts center gives students and community members an opportunity to participate in theater. Collins taught theater in her career.
“It raises the cultural level of the entire district,” she said.
None of the district’s three high schools have dedicated auditorium space. The schools use their gyms and Chester High School has a stage that is used both for sports and theater programs, officials say.
Lovern said residents in her area did not ask for a performing arts center and want maintenance issues such as leaking roofs addressed.
Roof leaks at Lewisville High will also be addressed if the plan passes, according to the district.
What’s in the plan
Lovern said more homes are coming to the Lewisville area, prompting concerns that the bond will not address growth.
According to the school district, the plan factors enrollment projections for the next 10 years.
The plan includes $1.9 million to add four classrooms to Lewisville Elementary School, $9.5 million to add an expanded dining area for students and additional classrooms at Lewisville High School and $4.6 million to upgrade athletic facilities at Lewisville High.
The additional classrooms at Lewisville Elementary will accommodate about 85 new students, according to the district. Fifth grade will move back to the elementary school campus.
Lewisville Elementary School served 501 students in 2018-19, according to the state report card.
“I know people out there say we are not doing anything for Lewisville, but that’s not true,” Collins said.
The plan also allocates $10.1 million to renovate the Great Falls Complex. Great Falls High School would be demolished and replaced by a new high school wing that would serve athletics, music and ROTC. Great Falls Elementary School would serve 4-year-old kindergarten through sixth grade, The Herald previously reported. The Great Falls middle and high school complex would convert to a seventh through 12th-grade campus.
Several people have commented on the district’s Facebook page that they fear Great Falls will be overcrowded with the changes.
Also included is $1.4 million for renovations to the Great Falls high school stadium and athletic facilities.
Collins said she urges residents to read the referendum.
“I encourage people to go and look at the plans and see how this will benefit our entire county,” she said. “After all, it’s all about our kids.”
More details are available on the bond referendum page of the Chester County School District’s website.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 10:44 AM.
