HEPHZIBAH, Ga. - It's back to school for students in Richmond County.

Despite millions in budget cuts, students have plenty to celebrate including a brand new middle school.

NBC Augusta 26 News was at Pine Hill Middle Friday morning as teachers and students started their first day of classes.

Right around 7 a.m. hundreds of kids began arriving by bus and others by their parents. The 600 or so students who filed inside started their new school year at a brand new school, opening its classroom doors for the first time.

"You always have that excitement on the first day of school making sure that schedules and children and adults are where they need to be," said Principal Glenda Collingsworth.

The first day can be nerve racking for the students, but it can be just as, if not more for the teachers.

Math teacher Kia Mills says the best part of the first day is getting to know her new students and "having them come in and seeing their eyes light up."

The students might not all be happy that summer is over, but their parents say they sure are.

"I'm gonna get some of my freedoms back, " says mom, Colleen Shirey.

"She said she was tired of seeing me around the house," said student Quinten Williams.

Pine Hill Middle School is Richmond County's newest--so new that the computers are still being brought into classes. The final price tag was $15 million. Parents and teachers agree that the school is much better than what they were brought up with.

"My husband and I were like, 'Aww man. I wish we were going back to school,’ because it's really nice," said Shirey.

On the first day, teachers say they're putting together the perfect recipe for a successful school year. The students say they're all looking forward to a great year too, as long as there's no homework on their first day.

Students from Hephzibah, Sego and Spirit Creek Middle schools were rezoned to the new Pine Hill middle school.

Thousands of other Richmond County students started in new schools Friday morning because of the rezoning.

It's part of the Richmond County School District’s "Rightsizing plan", in which schools were rezoned or closed to save the district money.

More than 20 schools were affected.

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