Nearly 200 new students are expected to enroll in Indian Land schools next year and more than 500 are expected over the next three years.

Those students will require additional classroom space and approximately 25 new teachers. The school district hopes the county will help them offset some of those costs.

Lancaster County School District officials continue to work with the Lancaster County Council on a proposal that could help the district with the cost of growth in the county.

Superintendent Gene Moore, board Chairperson Charlene McGriff and Chief Financial Officer Tony Walker spoke to the council last week about a proposal to consider giving 40 percent of the per-rooftop voluntary impact fees collected from developers to the school district. The revenue would help the district pay for capital needs.

Right now, none of the money negotiated between developers and the county is allocated for the school district. The money collected from the county's negotiated fees would not be enough to pay for construction of new schools, Moore said, but it would at least help the district offset the cost of growth.

"When the students are coming and continue to come, we don't have any choice," Moore said. "We have to continue to provide them the best school buildings we can."

Indian Land Middle and High Schools were built to accommodate the rapid growth that is occurring in the Panhandle. But the elementary school is starting to feel growth's pinch, Walker said. Indian Land Elementary School will use mobile classrooms next year because the students are already outgrowing the classroom space in the main building.

The school district owns land near Edenmoor, in the southern end of Indian Land, but a new school won't likely be built there for at least three years, Walker said.

The district's proposal was met with mixed reviews from council members when it was initially presented on April 28. District officials came to the May 5 council meeting to answer discuss the proposal.

"We're not asking that this money be attached to the taxpayers, we're asking that it be attached to the developers," said McGriff. "We need to show this community that we can work together to educate our children."

Councilman Jack Estridge disagrees with sharing the negotiated funds with the school district. The county has its own financial issues to deal with, he said, including trying to find money to build a new courthouse.

"We were not elected to run the school budget in no shape or form," Estridge said. "I just don't think it's a good idea to start mixing money."

The school board and county council plan to meet to discuss the proposal further. A date has not yet been set for the meeting.