LANCASTER, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – One parent in the Lancaster County School district has started a petition for a bond referendum to upgrade schools in the area.
There have already been talks of building more schools to support the growth, but she says they remember the other schools.
Lancaster County is growing — and some neighbors fear school districts can’t keep up. From 2010 to 2020, 20,000 people moved to the area. By July 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the county surpassed the 100,000-resident mark.
“We keep hearing tsunami is coming; a tsunami is coming, well I’m afraid if we don’t act fast enough that tsunami is going to be here,” Lancaster County School district parent Angela Davis said. “And all of a sudden, people are going to start moving away because no progress will ever get done if we can’t start jumping ahead of it.”
The majority of the growth is in Indian Land. The school district says almost four schools in the city are nearly at capacity.
Alongside talks of shifting attendance lines to accommodate the students, the district is also discussing building new schools. But Davis says other work needs to be done as well.
“I mean, some of those schools are still built from the 1950s with very minimal updates, and I know that is hard for any child to grow and thrive in and if we’re going to get a bond referendum passed, let’s do it for the whole county,” she said.
She already secured over 250 signatures on a change.org petition to make that happen. Transportation director Bryan Vaughn says the district only has “8% money.”
“Our 8% money is really dedicated to taking care of schools throughout the county, you know, capital needs like HVAC systems and paving projects, carpeting and things like that, so really the only money that would be available to us would be through a bond referendum,” he said.
The district has held two meetings to discuss population growth and how to best handle it. Vaughn says they want to ensure the parents’ voices are heard about what the district can do.
The next meeting will be on Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.