Spring Hill Independent School District is the smallest school system inside Longview city limits, but it is also the fastest growing school system.

For the foreseeable future, that will likely remain the case, with 660 new homes projected between now and 2012 and another 685 homes projected in the four years following that growth spurt. Between now and 2017, a demographer hired by the district projects enrollment at Spring Hill ISD schools will climb from about 1,800 to nearly 2,700 students.

The district is near capacity at four of five campuses. By 2012, the projected enrollment would exceed capacity at all five campuses.

Add an aging infrastructure, and one reaches a conclusion that it is time for Spring Hill ISD to take action. That was the conclusion reached by a citizens' Needs Assessment Committee and endorsed by the district's board of trustees. The school board is asking SHISD voters to approve a $41.8 million bond referendum to fund a two-phase construction program that would build a new high school, remodel Spring Hill Middle School and Junior High for grades 3,4 and 5 and add four new classrooms to the primary school.

The fact that the primary school built just seven years ago already needs additional rooms to accommodate Spring Hill's youngest students points to the reason district leaders are proposing a comprehensive construction program. They say the number of young families — including many with children who are not old enough to begin school — continues to increase, foretelling the enrollment growth projected by the demographer.

Members of the school board and the independent "Parents for a Promising Future" say acting now will help the school district avoid the prospect of having to take emergency steps to avoid crowding and other problems associated with growth.

The phased approach of the project, beginning with the construction of a new high school, will allow the district time to repair and upgrade existing buildings before other grade levels are moved in accordance with the plan. The issuance of bonds would be phased as well, allowing the school board to assure that costs and tax rates remain in line with projections. Committee members say that is one reason that improvements to athletic facilities such as the football stadium are in the second phase.

Citizens committee and school officials have obviously put a great deal of time and review into this project. They have gone the extra mile by calling upon the demographer to study the district's unique nature and its future. The Longview News-Journal recommends Spring Hill voters support their neighbors' conclusions and vote "yes" on the $41.8 million bond referendum.