The Columbia County school system's need for new facilities shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.

Superintendent Charles Nagle says the county will need two more elementary schools and an additional middle school by 2012-13.

Stevens Creek and Grovetown elementary schools are overcrowded, he said, but school officials want to see the growth patterns of this year's enrollment before determining which school needs relief first. As a result, the school system will postpone land acquisition efforts until the new school year is under way to determine where land should be purchased for new schools.

Mr. Nagle said enrollment at Evans, Grovetown, Greenbrier and Riverside middle schools also is expected to increase this year. He said a future middle school could be built in the Clanton Road vicinity.

The school system would have the first option to purchase 55 acres of land in that area if it is developed, he said.

Systemwide enrollment figures for this year are estimated at 22,500, an increase of about 485 pupils compared to 2007-08.

Mr. Nagle said the school system earned $4 million in state funding for construction of a new elementary school because of growth last year. However, the construction of Cedar Ridge, the county's newest elementary school that opened in 2007 and was financed completely by local funding, totaled $10.4 million.

Mr. Nagle said a school construction proposal for the 2012-17 round of 1-cent sales tax funding could be put to voters in a referendum in 2010.

"You can borrow money on bonds on potential earnings and get that money in advance," he said, and the 1-cent sales tax monies would be used to pay back the bonds.

Stallings Island Middle School, the county's only two-story school, is opening on Blackstone Camp Road in August, and Mr. Nagle said he would consider a two-story design for another school.

"It does reduce the amount of property we have to have," he said.

The superintendent also said he would consider a split-level design with ground-level entries on both floors for the next elementary school. Grovetown High School, which is under construction on Chamblin Road, is scheduled to open in 2009.