Addressing Overcrowding
AIKEN, SC (WRDW/WAGT) -- A week from Sunday Aiken schools will break ground on an expansion project for North Augusta High School. The school district has been hosting town hall meetings to talk about overcrowding and rezoning.
The expansion for this big feeder high school was already planned in anticipation of growth. But now the problem is trickling down to the elementary and middle levels where board members say, as of now, they don't have enough space to house new students.
Aiken County Schools' town hall meetings are off to a hot start.
"Trying to get their input on what we should do moving forward to deal with some overcapacity issues."
A huge portion of that overcrowding is happening in area two in the west near North Augusta.
"All of our elementary and middle schools in area 2 are either at capacity or over capacity, " Lawerence said.
Chief Administrative Officer, King Lawrence says there's been a shift over time, "Ten years ago, the center of the school district population wise was in downtown Aiken and over time that shifted further and further to the west. And we don't see that changing anytime soon."
This shift has parents like Misty Mitchell concerned, "People aren't just going to stop moving into this area. We are growing. The infrastructure is growing."
To deal with the issue, the board wants to build 2 new schools one elementary and one middle, in North Augusta.
"We anticipate having that deed for a plot of land off of exit five in North Augusta," Merry Glenne Piccolino, Communications Director, ACPS said.
Acres all donated by a developer, Merry Glenne Piccolino says this will help schools like Mossy Creek. "That one's actually at 107% capacity at this point, and so is Hammond Hill."
These new facilities are only designed to accommodate normal population growth that's expected over 10 years.
"They're not even taking into account future cyber growth," continues Piccolino.
Misty Mitchell, a concerned parent said, “You notice we have this huge new stadium being built that is supposed to support thousands of people coming in. These people are gonna have to move here to work here; Where are these kids going to school?"
There’s only one thing in the way.
"It's thirty-two million for those two schools."
That's over a third of the $90 million needed for projects for the entire county.
There are three options for that money, use money from the capital projects fund, renew the one percent sales tax for the county, or vote to approve a bond for all $90 million.
Approving that bond is obviously the quickest way to get these projects off the ground, but that could mean tax increases.
On a home worth 100,000 that could be between 20 and 30 dollars per year. But keep in mind, the city of North Augusta’s budget also includes a property tax that will raise payments by an additional 20 dollars per year on those homes. So expenses could be stacking up quickly.
Story by Matt Kaufax, WRDW News 12
November 8, 2017