Aiken County school board determines projects to be funded by next round of Penny Sales Tax

The Aiken County Public School District held a special-called meeting on July 9 to decide which projects will be funded by a renewed Penny Sales Tax.

Five projects for the next round of the Penny Sales Tax were settled on at the meeting, all of which will be formally approved at the July 16 board meeting.

These five projects include renovations or additions to South Aiken High School, Midland Valley High School, North Augusta Middle School, Silver Bluff High School, plus the addition of a new elementary school in Area Three, which is in the Graniteville area.

Once approved, these projects will be listed on the November ballot.

These projects are estimated to cost around $287 million.

Over the past months, the school district has held public input meetings to narrow down potential Penny Sales Tax projects, provided that the tax is reinstated by voters .

The first round of the Penny Sales Tax was voted for by Aiken County residents in November 2014, and funded projects over the last decade which brought improvements to Aiken High School, North Augusta High School, Leavelle McCampbell Middle School, Ridge Spring-Monetta’s K-12 campus and the Aiken County Career and Technology Center.

As potential projects for the next round of the Penny Sales Tax were discussed, board members shared their thoughts on what they found to be the most important to prioritize.

Board members Dwight Smith and Jim Broome spoke about the needs of Gloverville Elementary School and Greendale Elementary School, respectively.

Smith said that Gloverville Elementary is lacking classrooms, and that students are taught in mobile units which are located outside of the school’s main building. According to Dwight, there are 13 mobile units outside the school. He added that more students are outside of the building than inside of the building at any given time.

“They need to be inside a structurally sound building,” he said.

Broome talked about Greendale Elementary’s external and internal condition, calling it a “vintage building” of the 1950s. “Greendale, to me, is not an option. It has got to be replaced,” he said.

This meeting was Corey Murphy’s first as the district’s new superintendent. He added his thoughts on which high schools needed the most focus. “Over the last 10 to 14 years we have addressed all our high schools except for South Aiken and Silver Bluff,” he said.

Several contingency projects were also identified, and include: roofing projects throughout the district, security vestibule and door lock upgrades, classroom additions at Byrd Elementary School, renovations at Greendale Elementary School and classroom additions at Gloverville Elementary School.

These projects will be approved at next week’s board meeting. These contingency projects will be covered by any funds that exceed what is needed to accomplish the new Penny Sales Tax projects.