Chester County school board members barely approved a $200M bond. Will voters follow?
Chester County voters will decide this fall whether to borrow $200 million for two new high schools. If the county school board is any indication, that decision won’t come easy.
The board voted 4-3 Monday to put another school bond referendum to voters. The county has had three failed bond votes since 2018. Decades of “no” votes in Chester County break from the Rock Hill region trend, where York and Lancaster counties pass school bonds at a far higher rate.
The $200 million decision to replace Chester and Lewisville high schools will come Nov. 5 during the general election.
“It’s beyond a need right now to move forward with replacing those two high schools,” said board member Nakia Houston-White.
The board tried to balance community concern with the cost of a bond vote, but some board members worry the $200 million question isn’t equitable. “What is going to be on the ballot is Chester High School, Lewisville High School, nothing for Great Falls — except for a tax increase,” said board member Kena Funderburk.
The board looked at options from one new high school at $109 million to a $243 million package with two new high schools and gym, science lab, band, chorus and ROTC space at Great Falls High School.
Board member Maggie James pointed to a recent community survey that reflected past bond vote results.
“The people spoke loud and clear, that they’re not willing to go beyond $200 million,” James said. “They have a limit on what they are willing to accept.”
The district often talks about equity, said board member Brenda Fort. She gets giving voters a palatable figure, but doesn’t get why Great Falls voters would support it.
“All of this talk about we’re going to build a new high school in Chester and a new high school in Lewisville, but we’ll get to Great Falls, that’s not going to fly,” Fort said.
$200M bond won’t buy everything
Several options presented Monday relied on money outside the proposed bond to upgrade schools.
The district could shift maintenance money for the two high schools that will be replaced, to cover Great Falls upgrades not listed on the referendum ballot, said district superintendent Antwon Sutton.
But even the $200 million isn’t enough for two new high schools, which would cost closer to $115 million. The district will have to find the difference.
“We were trying to get a round amount for the referendum, for the lower tax impact,” Sutton said.
In community conversation since October, the common concern and the biggest issue has been the bond amount, he said. The superintendent had hoped the school board could rally behind a common plan. After a sometimes contentious hour and a half of debate, that didn’t happen.
“If the board is not united, this will be a hard battle to get to November,” Sutton said.
Chester County school bonds historic lack of support
Since 1983, six school districts in the three-county Rock Hill region have combined for 38 bond referendum votes. Almost three quarters of them — just more than 71% — passed.
Five of the 11 failed votes happened in Chester County. That district has a passage rate below 17%, having approved a $19 million campaign in 1996 and missed out on five others totaling $482 million.
The bonds have different aims in different communities.
Districts like Fort Mill and Clover routinely present large bonds to build new schools for surging enrollment. Chester County asks for money to replace aging facilities.
Board members talked Monday about old or unsafe buildings and areas in schools closed off to students. Bond construction could prevent high school wrestlers having to practice in a cafeteria or fine arts programs having to use middle school venues, Sutton said.
The latest bond is based on a 1% growth rate, just a fraction of what areas like Fort Mill, Lake Wylie and Indian Land project.
Chester County bonds aren’t about adding capacity, but improving education for a relatively stable number of students. While other areas grow their number of schools, Chester County hears public concern about consolidation.
The board doesn’t intend to close Great Falls High but people worry about it, board members said Monday.
“That’s just a stigma, whether people are saying it or not,” Funderburk said. “By them not getting anything on the referendum, they’re not going to trust that they’re going to get something (from the district reallocating maintenance money).”
Bond details for Chester County
The $200 million plan, largely for the same new high school construction, falls between the $263 million request two years ago and a $117 million proposal in 2020. Roughly two-thirds of voters hit “no” on their ballots in each of those campaigns.
The coming bond would cost residents $222 per year more on their homes, for every $100,000 in value. Vehicles would add a little more than $33 per year, for every $10,000 in value.
Board members say equity is important across the district. But what they don’t want is the equity of no student getting anything because a bond fails, again.
“For me the conversation is just how much the referendum is, and the tax impact that it would have,” Houston-White said.
