North Carolina State Superintendent for Public Instruction Catherine Truitt has announced that Columbus County will receive $52 million to construct a new school.
The news came Monday during a press conference alongside Rep. Brenden Jones, who represents Columbus County and Robeson County. Truitt selected Columbus County for the needs-based grant, which will allow the district to build a K-8 school in the eastern portion of the county.
"[The grant] would allow for your students to be in one building instead of separated into two buildings with teachers having to go back and forth," Truitt said.
This grant has been a long time coming. Columbus County Schools applied for this funding twice in 2022, but got rejected both times.
In the meantime, students in eastern Columbus County have been struggling with overcrowded schools and aging infrastructure. The closure of Acme Middle School and Hallsboro Middle School meant that sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have been split across multiple campuses in the county for several years. About 180 seventh and eighth graders have been temporarily housed at East Columbus Junior-Senior High. Sixth graders have remained at Acme Delco Elementary and Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary. Both of those campuses were first built in the 1950s.
This new facility, which the district hopes to complete by November 2026, will consolidate K-8 programming across all three schools into one campus. School officials say it will have capacity for 950 students, leaving ample room for growth.
The grant is funded by the N.C. Education Lottery. Truitt said there would be another round of need-based funding for North Carolina public schools in the next legislative session.
"We will continue to help our economically distressed areas get caught up with their capital needs," she said.
