Yahoo Finance Will $240M solve Midlands school district overcrowding? Here’s what your school could get
Lexington-Richland 5 residents will decide this fall whether the school district will issue a $240 million bond for improved facilities, including a new school.
The school board voted 5-1 to approve the referendum question for voters in the Chapin-Irmo district in the November election.
Board member Catherine Huddle voted against the referendum question, arguing it did not do enough to address overcrowding issues at schools in the Chapin area.
“It does nothing to expand Chapin High capacity, and maxes out our borrowing without addressing our most pressing facilities issue,” Huddle said. “We will likely face another tax increase in the next few years” to address Chapin instead, and “the increased maintenance and operating costs will end up decreasing per pupil funding.”
But board member Kimberly Snipes argued other areas in the district have more pressing needs that should be addressed first.
“Chapin has some of our newer facilities,” Snipes said. “We may need to deal with that, but some other clusters have not gotten the attention that they need.”
Board member Elizabeth Barnhardt abstained from the vote.
Among the top items on the bond list is construction of a new Dutch Fork Elementary School, at a cost of $41.4 million. The school district will then renovate the current elementary school on Irmo’s Broad River Road into a new Richlex Educational Center, at a cost of another $2.6 million.
Other projects getting attention are additional wings to Chapin Elementary and Lake Murray Elementary (a combined $14 million), classroom renovations at Harbison West and Nursery Road elementaries ($12 million each), and improvements to the district administration building ($25 million), which previously had to move staff because of an outbreak of mold.
Several schools will also receive new amenities from the bond issue:
A digital solutions and artificial intelligence lab at Dutch Fork High School that would cost $800,000;
A construction and infrastructure workforce development lab at the Center for Advanced Technical Studies at $10.5 million;
$30 million for a small business incubation center at Irmo High School;
And a $21 million fine arts center/auditorium at Chapin High School.
All three high schools would receive climate-controlled sports practice facilities ($13.8 million total), and nine schools would receive various other renovations totaling almost $40 million.
About $5 million could be spent across the district for new security features, including cameras and new “vestibule” entrances where visitors would come into any school through a secured entrance room that would remain secured from the rest of the building until a visitor is cleared.
Voters in the school district will ultimately decide whether to move forward with the bond issue in the Nov. 5 election.
