A $200 million question will be coming to the ballot for residents in the Spartanburg District Five School System on Nov. 4.
Voters will get to check “yes” or “no” on whether the school system can obtain a bond to construct a new middle school and rebuild two other schools.
The Spartanburg District Five Board voted unanimously to add the referendum to the Nov. 4 ballot on Monday. This comes four years after a previous referendum for a $295 million bond, which was overwhelmingly approved by the community at an 84% “yes” rate.
According to District Five Superintendent Randall Gary, the bond will have no impact on residents’ taxes. The school system expects to pay back the bond over a course of 25-30 years.
The funds from the bond will be used in part to construct a new middle school on the southern side of the district. This is to alleviate over-enrollment concerns at Florence Chapel and Abner Creek Middle Schools. According to surveys done by the school system, District Five is growing at a rate of 16%, and is projected to have 14,000 students by 2034.
“Our community is continuing to grow and grow, as far as enrollment,” Gary said. “We want to continue to be able to offer the same quality of instruction to all of our students, and to make sure we can do that in adequate facilities and class size, we’re going to need to build some new buildings.”
The construction of the new elementary school is set to occur in 2028, if the bond is approved by voters. Other projects to be completed under the bond include the reconstruction of Duncan Elementary School of the Arts and Byrnes Freshman Academy.
Duncan Elementary School of the Arts is the oldest building in the school system, having been built in 1968. The new school would be built on Dazzler Road with a slightly higher student capacity. The real benefit of the remodel, though, is that it gives the school system the ability to outfit the arts magnet with the appropriate facilities.
“[Duncan] became a fine arts magnet school after it had been just a regular elementary school for several years, and oftentimes what happens is we retrofit that school to accommodate the programs that are in it,” Gary said. “Now, this gives us an opportunity, since we know the programs, to design a school that fits those programs instead of continuing to invest money into one of our oldest schools.”
The rebuilding of Duncan Elementary is set to be completed in 2028, if the bond is approved by voters.
The final project to be covered by the bond is the rebuilding of Byrnes Freshman Academy, which would occur in 2030. This project would move the old 1973 building to a new location closer to Byrnes High School — a benefit to the students who travel between them for classes.
According to Gary, families who may be impacted by the addition of the new middle school or the reconstruction projects will be notified well in advance. The Board will announce the referendum three times in the press before placing it on the general ballot in November.
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