School Dist. 4 Asking Voters to Invest in Future
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
The fastest growing school district in Anderson County is asking voters to help meet the challenge of unprecedented growth, with nearly 3,000 new housing units either recently added or currently under construction in the district.
Two-thirds of Anderson School Dist. 4’s schools are near capacity and expected to be over capacity in less than three years.
A November referendum will ask voters to help, but funding $115 million in general obligation bonds to build a new high school and execute extensive upgrades at all of the other schools.
The district, which topped 3,000 students for the first time in 2022, currently has 3,107 students, a number that is projected to increase by 1,200 more students over the next nine years.
“Mt. Lebanon Elementary School and La France Elementary School are out of classrooms,” said Dist. 4 Superintendent Dee Christopher. “If we had to add a teacher at either school, it would be difficult.”
Christopher said increasing class sizes would be among the few options available if something is not done.
Pendleton High School is facing similar challenges posted by growth. The school currently has 941 students, an increase of 82 students since last year.
The referendum (see full text of referendum below) calls for building a new high school, converting the current high school into Riverside Middle School – and moving sixth-grade students into middle school, renovations and an addition to Mt. Lebanon Elementary School, upgrades and improvements at Pendleton Elementary School, and improvements and updates – including the cafeterias – at La France Elementary School and Townville Elementary School.
The breakdown of proposed projects costs by school:
New Pendleton HS - $114,534,103
Current Pendleton HS converted to Riverside Middle - $9,679,938
Athletic upgrades - $7,972,250
Mt. Lebanon Elementary - $7,460,227
Townville Elementary - $3,642,063
La France Elementary - $3,432,334
Pendleton Elementary - $1,460,468
Transportation - $185,397
While the total for all projects exceeds $148 million, Christopher said the district would use some of the penny sales tax funds to cover much of the rest of the projects.
If voters reject the referendum, there will be no new high school for now, and the district will have to regroup with plans to meet the challenges as best they can.
The property for the proposed new high school was purchased by the district in 2013, and is adjacent to the current high school property allowing for some sharing of resources with Riverside Middle if the new high school is constructed.
Some of the funding for these projects would come from the proposed $115 million in general obligation bonds proposed by the referendum.
A general obligation bond is a loan by a public entity based on taxes collected to pay back the loan. The current proposal would call for the following taxes for residents of the district:
Owners of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $64 per year in taxes, or $32 per year for those with homestead exemption. A $200,000 homeowner would pay an additional $128 ($96 with homestead exemption), and a $300,000 homeowner would pay an additional $192 ($160 with homestead exemption).
“The big dates are for the 2026-2027 school year, when we anticipate three schools to be over capacity,” said Christopher, adding less desirable options, including redrawing school lines and larger class sizes, would have to be considered.
School districts' options for raising revenue for operations are limited by South Carolina Act 388, which removed school operations from owner-owned homes and shifted the burden to industry in districts.
“A referendum (for general obligation bonds) is about the only avenue our district has to raise funds,” said Christopher.
One other option available, an impact fee on new homes and businesses, was rejected by the Anderson County Planning Commission when School Dist. 1, the other district experiencing exponential growth in the county, asked for a one-time impact fee of $11,208 for single family units, or $7,779 for multi-family units to offset school and infrastructure costs.
But impact fees have been used in other counties and are at least a potential revenue source for school districts trying to meet the challenge of fast growth.
Meanwhile, an advocacy group not directly associated with the school district, Future of 4, is working to educate and encourage the 17,939 voters registered in the district to vote “yes” on the referendum in November.
Waylon Priester, who chairs the committee, said now is the right time to approve the funding outlined in the referendum.
“We need to just bite the bullet and do it,” said Priester, a Townville famer who has two children in the district schools and a baby on the way.
“Our students deserve what this plan offers, and it is good for the community,” said Priester. “I am hearing great feedback and have had almost no negative comments to me in person.”
Proposed site of new Pendleton High School (in yellow). Current high school on left, would be converted to middle school.