South-Carolina
Nearly $1B in school bonds is on the ballot in Lancaster, Chester and York counties
Voters in three of South Carolina’s Charlotte metro counties will decide the fate of nearly $1 billion in school bond referendums this election. School districts in Lancaster, Chester, and York counties are looking to expand capacity and enhance security features in campus buildings.
Meanwhile voters in Chesterfield County are being asked to renew the county school district’s penny sales tax to help fund upgrades to athletic facilities, general renovations, and expanded classroom and cafeteria spaces.
Lancaster
The largest of the referendums on the ballot is in Lancaster, where the county school district is seeking $588.15 million, mostly for the construction of four new school buildings. The district serves almost 16,000 students in 22 schools; it is looking to add an elementary school and a high school to fast-growing Indian Land (which would use $315.6 million of the bond funds); a new elementary school in Lancaster ($113.45 million); and a new elementary school in Kershaw ($95 million).
An additional $37.6 million is earmarked for districtwide facilities upgrades, while $26.5 million would pay for security, safety, and facilities upgrades in the Buford community.
The tax impact on voters, should the referendum pass, would be about $65 per year for every $100,000 of assessed property value of an owner-occupied home, and per every $10,000 of assessed vehicle value. That tax would bump to $92 per year $100,000 of assessed value of non-owner-occupied residential properties.
Chester
In Chester, voters will decide on $227 million that would fund a pair of new high schools and upgrades to another.
The new high schools would replace the current buildings in Chester and Lewisville. The upgrades would be made at Great Falls High School.
The money raised by the referendum would cover most of the costs of the projects. According to information published by the district, the referendum would pay $99.1 million towards the new high school in Chester and $100.15 million towards the new high school in Lewisville. The remaining $16.8 million to complete both projects would be paid for by the district’s capital funds – which would pay for a theater and a gym at each location.
The tax impact, according to the district, would be $230 annually per $100,000 of assessed home value, plus $34.50 for every $10,000 of assessed vehicle value. The owner of a home valued at $100,000 and a vehicle valued at $10,000, therefore, would pay an additional $264.50 per year in taxes, if the bond referendum passes.
That is a big if, however. Chester voters have denied three successive bond referendums, in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
District spokesman Chris Christoff said that following the 2022 referendum, voters stated that they had felt the district was trying “to do a little too much at one time.” In response, the district launched a series of listening sessions this past spring.
“We asked, if we were to pursue a fourth referendum, what would you want to see,” Christoff said.
A follow-up survey asked whether voters understood the capacity, security, and facilities conditions issues in the district. According to the district, about 80% of the roughly 1,000 respondents said they better understood what they would be voting on, which is a scaled-down slate of projects that no longer include athletics expansions or work to the district career center.
If the referendum fails this round, Christoff said, the district will spent about $20 million of its own capital funds to replace the roofs at Great Falls and Chester high schools, plus other funds to buy additional modular classrooms in Lewisville – the fastest-growing area of the school district, he said.
Chester County School District serves about 5,500 students, which is up from about 5,100 students in 2018-19.
York
The smallest referendum on the ballot for Pee Dee voters this election is a $90 million bond that would pay for a new middle school and expansion and renovations to a learning center in York County School District 1, in York.
According to the district, four elementary schools and one middle school are between 80% and 90% capacity in a district that continues to grow along with the Charlotte metro. As of March, almost 2,400 new homes in the City of York are on tap from development plans in place, according to the district
Therefore, the district maintains, a new middle school is needed to meet that growth as elementary students age up.
The district also wants to renovate its Pinckney Street Learning Center/York One Academy to become an early childhood center.
The tax impact on voters would be $36 additional per year for every $100,000 of assessed home value; $54 per year for every $100,000 of assessed value on second or rental properties; and $945 per year for every $1 million of assessed business property value.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer has been nominated for a position in foreign diplomacy.
The White House on Tuesday listed Bauer as a nominee to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Belize, a Central American country bordering Guatemala.
It’s unclear when a confirmation hearing will take place. WIS has reached out to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for more information.
Bauer was South Carolina’s lieutenant governor from 2003-2011, serving under then-Gov. Mark Sanford. Before that, he served terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate.
More recently, Bauer entered the race for U.S. Senate in July 2025, looking to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary. He ended his campaign the following month.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
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