The Cherokee County School Board may borrow a page from Greenville’s financing book to pay for an estimated $30 million in building needs.

School trustees received pre-liminary plans at Tuesday’s meeting for a $5.18 million ninth grade addition at Blacks-burg High. Other priorities include a new Limestone Learning Center, a Gaffney High ninth grade addition and a new Gaffney High football stadium.

Superintendent Dr. Bill James will determine over the next few weeks what school building projects the district can afford, school board chair-person Sandra Greene said. The superintendent will then present a financing plan for the projects at the Aug. 23 meeting.

“The Blacksburg High ninth grade addition is one of several building projects that are a pri-ority for our district. A new Limestone Learning Center is desperately needed because of the growth the district has seen in programs such as adult education and the alternative program,” Greene said. “We want to do these projects with-out a tax increase. Greenville has built 73 schools through investment financing. This would be a great way for us to do all of these projects at the same time.” Investment financing works much like a home mortgage or installment purchase. Schools are built and the cost is paid off over time similar to a house payment.

“The district would not start off owning the buildings,” James said. “We would make monthly payments and become owners as each building is paid off.”

The district would use a financing plan similar to the BEST (Building Equity Sooner for Tomorrow) used by the Greenville School District. Under BEST, Greenville school trustees created a nonprofit foundation to issue the bonds to renovate and build new schools.

The district makes payments to the foundation over the next 25 years in return for BEST building the schools, according to the Greenville School Dis-trict Web site. The lease ends when all payments are made.