New high school? Clover board considering $156 million bond referendum for November ballot

The Clover School District retooled its proposal and could ask voters again in November whether they’ll support a bond referendum to pay for new facilities.

The Clover School District Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting Aug. 1 to consider the approval of a bond resolution for the November ballot, according to a news release from the district.

The bond, if passed by voters in November, would pay for the construction of a new 2,100-capacity high school on a parcel of land already owned by the district on Daimler Boulevard — a road that connects two major northern York County highways near Lake Wylie.

This bond referendum would total approximately $156 million, said Clover school district spokesperson Bryan Dillon.

“If we pass the bond resolution on the first (of August), then that is the verbiage that will be on a ballot for the November election,” Dillon told The Herald on Monday.

The board also will consider whether a stadium for the proposed school would be included in the primary ballot question or posed as a separate question. Adding an “athletics package” — a new stadium — would cost approximately $7 million, Dillon said.

Garnering community support and funding to build a new high school has been a top priority of the Clover School District for a while. The one-high-school district is among the fastest growing districts in South Carolina. Clover added roughly 600 students in 2021 — a rate that required adjustment to bus schedules and other processes.

And that growth isn’t slowing down. By 2025-26, Clover officials anticipate enrollment to reach nearly 10,000 students — 1,000 more than the 2021-22 enrollment number. Clover High School is already the eighth-largest high school in the state.

In September, the board put up a bond referendum that would have paid for a second high school, an eighth elementary school, turning CHS’s ninth grade campus into a third middle school, renovations to Clover High School and more — a package that would have cost approximately $197 million.

Eligible voters turned down the measure. About 71% of registered voters were against the bond — citing that the tax increase was too high, among other issues. Approximately 22% of the district’s 35,959 registered voters cast ballots in the bond vote.

The upcoming proposed bond will be different than the one put up for a vote in September. Among its chief differences: this bond doesn’t include renovations to Clover High School and Bethany Elementary. Those renovations are underway thanks to other funding. November’s bond referendum also wouldn’t include the construction of a new elementary school and a new Technology and Innovation Center.

“We conducted a listening tour in November and December, reported back to open forum in January and have had numerous meetings,” Dillon said.

The board also met for a work session last week to “build a consensus” around the resolution that will be considered for approval in August.

Clover School Board special meeting

When? Monday, Aug. 1, 6 p.m.

Where? Clover School District Office, located at 604 Bethel St. Clover

A public forum will be available for members of the community to share their views on the proposed bond referendum.

This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 12:08 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.