Johnston County — School leaders are hurrying gladly to get ready to build a Cleveland community high school a year earlier than planned.

After reviewing a schedule of bond sales, County Commissioners on Monday said Johnston could afford to open the high school in 2010, instead of 2011.

“I can’t say enough about the County Commissioners being willing to do this and address in this way the growth out there,” Superintendent of Schools Anthony Parker said. “We feel good about the final outcome.”

Instead of selling an $18.2 million bond this summer, the county will sell a $28 million bond.

County Manager Rick Hester said lower interest rates and the county’s good financial health made it possible to borrow more money earlier. “We’ve done a lot of analyzing and talking with our financial advisers, Davenport, crunching numbers,” Hester said.

Hester said the county had expected its next round of borrowing to come with an interest rate of 4.5 percent.

Instead, the rate will be 4.1 percent.

Ann Williams, who oversees school-building projects for the county, said it shouldn’t be hard to get the Cleveland school caught up to a high school now under construction in the Corinth-Holder community.

“The good news is we already have the land, and we pretty much have the floor plan,” Williams said. “The issue right now is grading and getting caught up.”

The Cleveland site is off Polenta Road, near its intersection with Indian Camp Road. The school will relieve crowding at West Johnston High, and the stepped-up construction will avert the need to reassign some West High students to South Johnston.