Sanford's education proposal disputed

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Jim Foster, spokesman for Democratic Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, said Sanford's plan to roll a number of education programs into Education Finance Act spending is illusory.

Will Folks, the Republican governor's press secretary, dismissed the contention as "the typical response from defenders of the status quo."

Sanford said Wednesday his budget would raise the base student cost to $2,213 from $1,852, a $361 increase.

But the proposed budget achieves that by "rolling selected education items into the Education Finance Act," according to budget documents.

Programs Sanford would move include reduced class size, school safety officers, principal supplements, and enhanced teachers skills and student performance in English, math, science and social studies in grades K-5 and 6 to 8.

"If these funds are not rolled into the EFA, the base student cost would be $1,944," according to the budget. That would represent $92 increase per pupil over 2004-05.

Folks said, "The bottom line is we keep coming up with new funding mechanisms and new layers of bureaucracy when what we should be doing is taking the money that's available and targeting it as best we can to each individual child."

Foster said his agency's "concern is you will be forcing districts to choose between keeping a resource officer or a teacher" because they would no longer be funded separately from the EFA.

But Folks said school districts are unlikely to face such choices because "we've freed up money at the local level wherever possible and not force decisions coming from Columbia on local districts."

He said state education officials "want to talk about base student costs because that's the number they can manipulate to make it look like the state's not living up to its obligations. You can talk about base student cost all you want, but we believe in taking the money that's available and targeting it as best possible."

Foster said, "For us it comes down to the base student cost and the state's responsibility to fund it. State law says what the base student cost should be and the state is responsible for funding it. If you just move money from one account to another, you're not getting the job done, only creating the illusion you're getting the job done."

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Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.