How can Rock Hill area schools fit all these new students? Here’s $1.4B worth of answers
Now that everyone is back to school, districts across the Rock Hill region can get down to business. Mainly, the business of building more new schools for a swelling number of students.
School bond votes, construction bids and new revenue sources for school are rampant across York, Lancaster and Chester counties.
Population growth in Fort Mill, Indian Land, Lake Wylie, York and Clover demand it. Referendum campaigns already held or planned this year, plus school board decisions just this week on construction plans, combined for $1.4 billion in growth-related decisions.
Challenges run from the largest district in Fort Mill, where a looming York County decision could impact how new schools are funded, to the smallest in Chester County. The Chester County school board walked back its week-old decision Monday night and added $27 million to what will now be a $227 ballot question this fall.
Here are the decisions school districts across the region face, and how they’ll impact tax dollars:
Rock Hill School District
The Rock Hill School District approved two large bond decisions Tuesday night. Neither will involve a public referendum vote, or add a tax rate increase.
The first one is a $20.5 million bond to pay for equipment and capital improvements. State law allows districts to add debt at up to 8% of their assessed value for all taxable property within them.
Rock Hill could, based on that value, issue more than $47 million in debt. Districts across the region routinely use that 8% rule as a funding source.
The bond will likely go up for sale this month and close in September. The district will pay it back within a year.
The other bond decision will repay debt at lower rates, and won’t happen unless the district can save $900,000 or more.
The district would issue $32 million in refunding bonds to pay what’s left on the $53.8 million borrowed in 2015. Those bonds from a decade ago also were refunding bonds, used to get a better rate on what was left from a $92 million bond referendum vote in 2005.
The bonds and refinancing happen as Rock Hill continues with several projects to update schools, like the reconstruction of Sunset Park Elementary School to open in 2026.
Fort Mill School District
The Fort Mill School District has work to do if it plans to keep a key funding source for new school construction. Officials submitted a request to York County to update the district’s impact fee.
York County Council could vote Monday to have its planning commission start the process.
Impact fees are one-time payments on new homes or apartments. For decades, Fort Mill had the only school impact in the state, at $2,500 per residence. In 2018 the county, at the district’s request, passed a new fee of more than $18,000 per home and $12,000 per apartment.
The district collected $68.2 million since. Impact fees paid for Flint Hill Elementary School that’s under construction and set to open next year. They’ll likely help with a middle school and early childhood center to follow.
Impact fees are a valuable tool for the district, despite the unpredictability. This summer, fees came in for 52 homes but no apartments. A single subdivision street permitting or a large apartment complex approval can swing revenue at any time.
“One day can have such a significant change in what our averages are,” said Leanne Lordo, assistant superintendent over finance.
State law requires a study of district facilities, services, population growth and other metrics to determine how much a district can charge for impact fees. The law also requires a fee to expire if it isn’t renewed, which involves an updated study. That deadline hits in July.
“We will go through the full study again,” Lordo said. “It’s a lengthy process.”
The fee amount is likely to change based on the new study. Whether it increases or decreases will be a mix of the new data and a decision by York County Council.
Council approved an impact fee for the Clover district after the 2018 decision in Fort Mill, but at a lower amount in Clover than its study recommended.
The impact fee decision comes after Fort Mill voters approved a $204 million bond for new schools, land purchases, technology and maintenance.
Clover School District
The Clover School District awarded a $47 million construction bid for Liberty Hill Elementary School on Monday night. That’s part of a $52 million overall budget for that school.
Board members also got an update on more than $200 million worth of ongoing or planned building projects — all to meet growth needs — from Leitner Construction. The biggest ticket item is the new $176.8M Lake Wylie High School.
The district signed a construction contract last week for its second high school, off Cannonball Run near the Five Points intersection. There’s also $16.7 million in Clover High School renovations, $8.7 million for additions at Bethany Elementary School and $5 million for fine arts upgrades at Ninth Grade Campus.
Clover officials have been in conversation with Fort Mill and other districts to talk through school openings. Everything from staffing levels to attendance zone changes will be impacted when Clover opens a new high school, middle school and elementary school in 2026.
“I don’t know anybody around us that has tried to open three schools in the same year,” said Superintendent Sheila Quinn.
York School District
The York School District has a $90 million bond referendum vote set for Nov. 5. It would pay for a new middle school, a childhood learning center, land acquisition and facility upgrades.
The district heard an update Tuesday night about construction management work related to it.
Work also continues on a new agricultural arena spearheaded by the York district, but one leaders there envision all of York County using through events or educational activities.
The project received $3 million in the coming year state budget, and is up to $4.25 million through corporate and individual donations. The district has property for the arena but will rely on fundraising to build it.
Lancaster County School District
The Lancaster County School District has the largest bond referendum in the region this fall, at $588 million. It would pay for a new high school and elementary school in Indian Land, plus new elementary schools in Lancaster and Kershaw.
Widespread school renovations are included, as are a new district maintenance facility, buses and career center space.
The bond is more than twice the size of any school referendum put on a ballot in the three-county Rock Hill region. It’s fueled largely by explosive growth in Indian Land.
Chester County School District
The Chester County School District board met Monday night in search of agreement on a school bond. They nearly got it, for an extra $27 million.
The board voted 6-1 to submit a $227 million bond question for county voters to consider. It would replace or improve all three district high schools.
Last week the school board voted 4-3 to put a $200 million referendum to voters this fall. It would build new high schools to replace Chester and Lewisville high schools.
But the bond didn’t include money for Great Falls High School, which led to three votes against it.
“The lack of consensus from a 4-3 vote was troubling,” said board chairman Doug Shannon.
Shannon met with superintendent Antwon Sutton and other administrators. Shannon reached out to each school board member. They set a meeting for Monday, just days ahead of Thursday’s deadline to have a bond question ready for the county election commission to put it on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The Chester County school board rescinded its week-old vote. The higher-price bond still includes the two school replacements, but also athletic, fine arts, science and ROTC space upgrades at Great Falls.
The move still wasn’t unanimous, as board member Sandy Lovern wanted to rescind the initial bond vote but study financial impacts before committing to a new bond.
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