The latest on Horry County Schools’ plan to build new Conway area middle school
Horry County Schools officials have found and purchased property for a new Conway-area middle school, but haven’t established a timeline to build it.
HCS board members on Monday approved the purchase of two parcels totaling 32 acres on El Bethel Road for $546,400, using unassigned general fund balance.
Conway Middle School is one of 17 schools the district labeled a Category 1, or red zone school, meaning its student population represents 95 percent or more of its building’s designed capacity threshold.
Numerous new construction projects have been prioritized by board members for future funding, but that funding is limited until at least 2024, when the penny sales tax sunsets. The district has been rapidly adding modular classrooms to add capacity at schools with growing student populations.
The Horry County Education Center, which has been operating since 2002 out of the former Kingston Elementary building off S.C. 905 in Conway, is the lone school currently approved for a new building after the board adopted a “pay-as-you-go” model to avoid raising taxes.
The board also approved changing the education center’s name to SOAR Academy, which is projected to open at the start of the 2021-22 school year on Four Mile Road in Conway adjacent to the district offices.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 12:20 PM.
