New elementary school to be built in Bluffton to help with overcrowding. Here’s the plan
A new elementary school is coming to Bluffton aimed to manage the town’s fast-growing population and student overcrowding.
It will be constructed on the May River High School property at 601 New Riverside Drive and open for 800 students during the 2025-26 school year, according to a press release. It will be the 23rd elementary school in the district and the fifth in the Bluffton area.
Groundbreaking is expected by March 2024, according to the release. On Tuesday, the school board authorized Superintendent Frank Rodriguez to negotiate a contract with Quackenbush Architects and Planners for the school.
From 2010 until the last U.S. Census report in 2021, Bluffton’s population has increased by over 150% from 12,530 to 31,191.
Pritchardville Elementary School in Bluffton is currently at 126% building capacity without considering its mobile units, and 87% building capacity considering mobiles. For program capacity, which considers curriculum and program offerings, it’s at 161% capacity.
Students from five neighborhoods normally within the school’s attendance zones have to be bused to Bluffton Elementary School due to capacity concerns. Another development will likely soon make it six.
There isn’t a contract yet and a construction price hasn’t been finalized, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder. She said Rodriguez will present the project at the school board meeting in June.
The project’s design work will be funded by 8% capital bond funding, and construction funding is anticipated to come from a 2023 bond referendum, according to a press release.
