FORT MILL, S.C. — As the Fort Mill School District continues to grow, district leaders are continuing to work ahead.
"We are a high-growth district and we have seen our numbers triple or almost quadruple over the last 25 years," said Joe Burke, the chief communications officer for the district.
The school board has voted to adopt a $204 million bond referendum to fund capital projects in the district, and now the community will need to vote on whether or not to approve the bonds. Part of the plan includes building a new middle school, which would go beside the new elementary school they’ve already broken ground on last week, with impact fee funds.
"We have four schools currently on freeze: two elementary, two middle schools," said Burke.
He said the new schools would help alleviate crowding and keep class sizes the way teachers like them. Another one of the district’s biggest obligations would be to build a new early childhood education center. This is spurred by data sparking some concerns.
The district says the data shows almost half of the students coming in are not prepared for kindergarten.
"We found that the more prepared they are coming into kindergarten, the better outcomes we see later," said Burke. "Right now about 54% of our kindergarteners come in on grade level and prepared so we would like to be able to up that number using this center."
If the bond passes, this will bring the first stand-alone facility in the district that would service pre-kindergarten students. Burk said additional funding would go towards other things like technology upgrades, property for future schools, and maintenance projects. In short, the district says this bond referendum includes some of the most immediate needs over the next five years.
The vote is scheduled for March 19, 2024.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.