Will Indian Land get new schools as population soars? Here’s what has to happen first
A lot still has to happen before Indian Land, or Lancaster County, gets new schools from a bond referendum. And this summer, a lot is happening.
A bond subcommittee for the Lancaster County school board met last week to outline plans ahead of an anticipated public vote in March. It was the fourth meeting for the group, to discuss details that will be laid out for the full school board when it meets July 11.
“This is not something that, I want folks to understand, is in stone,” said school board member and subcommittee facilitator Melvin Stroble. “It gives us a guideline. Milestones to attempt to achieve through this process.”
If the full school board approves, a facility needs committee could be set up by July 19. A 14-member committee would include participants from each voting district in the county. That committee would present recommendations to the bond subcommittee, which would present to the full school board.
“The facility needs committee is, we believe, is critical in this process to ensure that we are continuing to gain community input and feedback in this process,” Stroble said.
The bond subcommittee isn’t committing to specific projects before the facility needs group does its work. Yet, there are obvious need areas. Indian Land is one of the fastest-growing areas in the Carolinas. Earlier in the week at a medical facility ribbon cutting, state Rep. Mike Neese noted how Indian Land transitioned from an area that didn’t have a grocery store to what now would be, if incorporated, the eighth largest city in the state.
Mary Beth Braham with architectural firm LS3P, a company approved by the school board for design work, mentioned several potential projects that have come up already in discussion about the bond next spring. Braham mentioned a new elementary and middle school for Indian Land at 1,000 students each, an elementary school in Lancaster for 600 students, a gym at Andrew Jackson High School and athletic upgrades in Buford. The subcommittee also mentioned a land sale in Indian Land at Wednesday’s meeting.
Nothing about that list if final or official.
“Clearly these are just the beginning points, of ideas,” Braham said.
If the bond plan progresses, the subcomittee would hear back from the facility needs committee on Aug. 2. The school board could select bond council in executive session on Aug. 15 and recommendations could be finalized on Aug. 30 for presentation to the school board. A public comment period would follow and draft wording on a bond referendum question could follow on Oct. 17.
If all those steps transpire, a bond referendum vote would come March 26, 2024.
The bond process this time is similar to one from 2016. Then, almost $200 million in bond money paid for a new high school and elementary school in Indian Land and land for the high school along with a host of upgrades at schools countywide.
