The county's newest elementary school is 95 percent complete and is scheduled to be completely finished by the middle of this month.

Built with Special Local Option Sales Tax monies, Flint Hill Elementary is located on the northwest corner of Airport Road and Ga. Highway 142, and sits on 80.97 acres of land. In the future, the area will accommodate additional facilities, such as a middle school and a stadium. Although these projects are not planned for the immediate future, they have been laid out in the school system's building plan.

The property was purchased for $1,133,580, and according to Dennis Carpenter, Deputy Superintendent for Operations, the money used to purchase the property came from bonds sold in August of 2008.

"The purchase of the property at the northwest corner of the intersection of Airport Road and Ga. Highway 142 is aligned with the SPLOST III Referendum for Schools passed in our county back in September of 2007," said Carpenter in a previous story. "The monies used to purchase this property came from the selling of bonds in August of 2008. These bonds are to be paid back with SPLOST III receipts which we began receiving in March of 2010.

"This purchase will allow us to move forward with those capital projects outlined in this referendum and in the district's five year facilities plan. It is also important to note that, per state law, these dollars must be spent on specific capital projects and not daily operations," he said.

Flint Hill will open its doors to students on Aug. 4, at the start of the 2011-12 school year. It will become home to students who previously attended Palmer-Stone Elementary, which has been phased out as part of the school system's five-year facilities plan.