Growth Forecasting & School Redistricting
Location
Columbia, SC
Setting the stage
Lexington County School District is a well-regarded suburb of South Carolina’s Capitol City, Columbia. For more than a decade, the school district has experienced rapid growth and a housing boom around Lake Murray. Lexington School District One engaged our team to help determine the location and extent of future student growth, guide locations of future school sites, and ultimately develop school attendance zones to populate the schools over the 10-year planning and construction horizon.
The process:
We met with key stakeholders across the district including county planning officials, school district staff, realtors, and the community. We analysed employment, demographic, and housing trends, with a particular emphasis on recent large-scale residential development and the number of students generated by development type. From this detailed analysis, we prepared school-specific and district wide enrolment projections for a 10-year horizon, conducted a space utilisation analysis that guided size and location of school construction projects, assisted in the site selection process for future schools, and crafted a phased approach to attendance re-zoning.
The final vote:
After a year-long process, the community voted and approved Lexington School District One’s $365 million school construction programme.
