The Cherokee County School Board has approved the purchase of 63 acres in Canton for a replacement for Canton Elementary School, a project that will rely on voter approval in 2021 of an extension of the 1-cent Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

“When we decided one year ago to allow Cherokee High School to expand into the Canton Elementary School campus, we made the commitment to build a new Canton Elementary as soon as possible,” said district Superintendent Brian V. Hightower. “The School Board’s unanimous approval of this purchase is the first step toward keeping that promise.”

The district is paying $26,000 an acre, or about $1.6 million, for land on the east side of Reinhardt College Parkway (Ga. 140), 2.8 miles north of the Riverstone Parkway/Waleska Road intersection.

Also on Hightower’s Ed SPLOST list is an additional high school and middle school to relieve overcrowding in the Cherokee and Creekview Innovation Zones, officials said. The district owns land suitable for these schools in Ball Ground and Sutallee.