Growth is also causing a major strain on the system in Rutherford County.

So many new students are being added to the school district each year the only way to handle the influx is to build more schools.

Construction is underway on the new Rockvale High School in Rutherford County. The school is designed to handle more than 2,000 students.

“So, what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to meet the needs of our students,” said Director of Schools Bill Spurlock. “We understand we have grown tremendously over the last decade or so, and we will continue to grow.”

At the current growth pace of 1,000 to 1,200 new students a year, the district is having to build even more schools.

“If you want to equate that to a school, over 1,000 students, it’s like one school a year,” Spurlock said.

A new school every year means teachers and supporting staff must be hired, but that’s not all.

“We have to purchase land, we have to build the building themselves,” Spurlock said. “And this not only strains the school system’s budget, it also strains the county’s budget.”

Rockvale High School is not slated to open until fall 2019, but already officials are planning for the next new school.

“We have to prepare for the next wave,” Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron said. “Predictions through the Chamber of Commerce is that we’re going to have another 200,000 [people] move into Rutherford County by 2035.”

The district has a five-year school building plan.

In addition to Rockvale High, a new elementary school will also be ready for students in 2019.

Over the next five years, the county is slated to build three new elementary, three new middle and one new high school.

Rutherford County is currently the fourth largest county in Tennessee and is one of the fastest growing in the country.

Spurlock said he wants to make sure growth doesn’t diminish the quality education students now receive being the second-best school district in the state.

“We have an over 95 percent graduation rate and currently we have a 21-composite overall in our district on the ACT,” Spurlock explained. “We want to continue to provide a quality education.”

Nothing has been decided on, but Spurlock said an option to handle growth in the future is thinking outside of the box.

The district may form a committee to explore multi-tracking schools.

“When a group of kids is on – in school – the other ones are out. With these breaks, you know, we have different tracks that they are on so that we can fully utilize the buildings,” Spurlock said.

Even with that comes challenges.

“One thing is you have to increase, your operational cost will go up and sometimes that can go on to be just as expensive as building schools,” Spurlock said.

For now, school officials are waiting for the growth to stall for a while.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see it slowing down,” said Spurlock

Spurlock said when you’re seeing more than 1,000 new students a year, it also puts a strain on buses and bus drivers because new routes must be added.

News 2 tracks the historic growth in Middle Tennessee with our special Nashville 2018 reports. Click here to learn more.

For more stories featured in our “Strain on the System” special, click here.