North Topsail Beach

Onslow County Approves $50M Southern Elementary School for Holly Ridge

Rear of a yellow school bus against a blue sky

Onslow County just approved Southern Elementary School, a $49.8 million school for the Holly Ridge area with a July 2028 target opening. The site and attendance lines come next.

Eric Lander Topsail Guide Editor Published August 23, 2026

At a Glance

Question	Answer
What happened?	Onslow commissioners approved a new elementary school for the Holly Ridge area on August 17, 2026
What is it called?	Southern Elementary School
How much?	$49,818,000
Funding source?	Onslow County, through bonds. Board Chairman Tim Foster says no tax rate changes for residents
Why?	Coastal and Dixon Elementary both at or over capacity
Where?	Not final. Mayor Pete Parnian expects NC 50 west of town
When does it open?	Target is July 2028, for the 2028-29 school year

Why Now: Coastal and Dixon Are Full

If you have a kid at Coastal or Dixon, or you will in a few years, you already know how full those buildings feel. Coastal opened in 2021 to take the pressure off Dixon. Five years later, both schools are at or over capacity, according to Onslow County Schools. That is how fast this area is growing.

On Monday, August 17, Onslow commissioners voted unanimously to fund Southern Elementary School for the Holly Ridge area. Not a study, not a plan to make a plan. Funded, scheduled, and moving.

Growth around here usually shows up as a problem first, and the fixes lag years behind. This time the fix is getting ahead of it. Kids who are in diapers right now will start kindergarten in a building that exists because the county acted in 2026.

What Got Approved

I read the county’s meeting agenda, and it has details the TV coverage didn’t.

The estimate is $49,818,000. It is the first school construction project on the county’s capital improvement plan, and the schedule is already set: out for bid by February 2027, contract awarded by April 2027, doors open July 2028.

The county can commit to those dates without a site because the building uses Onslow County Schools’ standard plans. Site engineering starts once the location is picked.

Foster says this is the first step in a bigger plan. “Onslow County Schools has a 10-year plan that they have in place, and this is the first step in that plan,” he told WITN before the vote.

Where Will It Be Built?

Nobody has signed anything yet, and Onslow County Schools makes the final call.

Mayor Parnian expects it to land inside the 1,000-plus acres Holly Ridge annexed in February, in the area slated for single-family homes and townhomes. “The school is going to be located on West 50,” he told WITN.

Take that as the mayor’s expectation, not a done deal. The moment a site is announced, I will update this article.

Southern Elementary School Funding Details

The county is paying for this with limited obligation bonds. Unlike the school bond Pender County voters approved in 2022, this type of borrowing does not go on a ballot. The county borrows against its own assets, and the state Local Government Commission signs off before any bonds are issued.

Foster says the payments already fit the county’s budget. “It’s not going to change anything as far as taxes and the tax rate because we’ve got it built in,” he told WITN. That is a promise about a bond issue that has not happened yet. The real answer shows up in future county budgets, and I will be reading them.

What’s Still Undecided

The site. The school system decides; the mayor expects NC 50 in the annexed area.
Grade span and capacity. The agenda does not say.
Attendance lines. Nobody has said which kids move where, and that conversation has to happen before a 2028 opening. I will flag the public input window when it opens.

New schools are easy to celebrate; new attendance maps are where the group chats catch fire.

Sources

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