Surge of Students Flood Fort Mill

Overcrowding of school district must stop

by Harlen Rembert

Everywhere you look, a new subdivision is creeping into the woods, or an apartment complex is sprouting up from the ground. Every Ridge costs an estimated $119,000,000, and expenses not covered by impact fees must be paid for with taxpayer dollars. These costs are not likely to shrink any day, the roads become more congested with traffic as people move to Fort Mill and the surrounding areas. There are many benefits to the variety of people being drawn to live here, but with populations growing at such an alarming rate, we are soon going to hit our capacity. Residential areas continue “ to pop up, taking up space that could be used for Those students have facilities, such as schools, as to go to school somewhere. well as allowing more and more people to move into the area, thus worsening the problem. The construction of ” new housing must be stopped if the resources of the town are to be kept intact for current and future use.

Meanwhile, schools specifically are struggling to keep up with the constant influx of students.

The Fort Mill School District has recently planned for the construction of three new schools following the acquisition of $50,000,000 of impact fees from the county. Although the impact fees are certainly helpful, building a school such as Catawba time soon, as the number of children and teens the district must serve continues to grow. The 2020-2021 school year saw a decline in enrollment numbers due to the pandemicthe first decline in over 10 years. However, by the following year, numbers had surpassed pre-pandemic standings with 17,862 students enrolled during the 2021-2022 school year. Current enrollment numbers now reach over 18,000. So why does the number of students in the FMSD continue to climb? The answer is simple: migration. The American Growth Project found that Charlotte is the eighth-fastest growing city in the U.S., with surrounding areas such as York County projected to have a population greater than 289,000. All of this growth is spurred by economic prospects. The Charlotte metropolitan area has gained an estimated 32,000 jobs so far in 2022 alone, making the city and its surrounding areas, such as Fort Mill,

Number of Students Fort Mill School District Student Enrollment Numbers 2002-2021

5,929 6,324 6,815 7,288 8,040 8,853 9,431 9,921 10,392 10,772 11,134 11,835 12,345 13,265 14,155 15,165 16,151 17,056 16,951 17,862

’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21

Year

Infographic by Harlen Rembert

a prime destination for those seeking new employment. As people move to the area, they bring their children with them, adding to the number of students local schools must serve.

However, despite the economic prosperity, growth can still be detrimental, even to those who have moved to the area for job opportunities. French teacher Megan Gillespie moved to Rock Hill to teach, and she has already seen the impact of the swell in migration.

“There’s been a good amount of growth,” Gillespie said. “People have outgrown Charlotte and just move into the suburbs, and then you get suburbs of suburbs. Those students have to go to school somewhere.”

Students indeed have to go to school somewhere, but there is only so much space. In addition to the new schools added in the past few years alone, the FMSD has announced that at least six new schools will be needed within the next decade.

Housing developments continue to compete with schools for space, and quaint suburban neighbors invite the migration of families whose children need to go to school.

Economic growth at the cost of a ballooning population is simply not sustainable. If children are to come first, population surges must come to a halt.