COLUMBIA--The idea of spending $700,000 to build enough stadium seats to possibly host a new football bowl game in Charleston isn't sitting well with some people who are feeling the pinch of recent state budget cuts.
Critics of the Palmetto Bowl proposal say the money would be better used to hire more teachers (17 to be exact), buy more school buses (12) or hire more state troopers (20), just to name a few items slashed during the four-year budget squeeze.
The $700,000 allocation tucked in the state's preliminary $5.3 billion budget also would be enough to put 500 computers in school classrooms, lawmakers and others critical of the proposal say.
The Citadel is raising money to upgrade Johnson Hagood Stadium to a 22,000-seat facility and has collected about $6 million in pledges toward a $10 million goal, enough to begin the first phase.
The proposed Palmetto Bowl would pit a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference against a Conference USA team on ESPN television, which would retain ownership.
Because the NCAA requires 35,000 seats for a bowl game, funding for the extra seats would have to come from somewhere other than The Citadel.
That's where the Legislature comes in with its multi-year infusion of funds, and opponents are bristling.
The $700,000 would more than cover the proposed cuts in state archives and the state library combined, with $100,000 to spare.
If the state Arts Commission and the S.C. Museum got the bowl money instead of the $277,000 and $208,000 in proposed cuts, respectively, there would still be $215,000 to spend.
"Some of us will be listening very closely for a justification for this line item," said state Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. "I'm surprised by the line item given the financial crisis we are going through."
The NAACP also opposes the idea.
"It's interesting government," state NAACP President Lonnie Randolph said. "We are 49th in education, but we want to be first in sports."
Chief House budget-writer Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said they aren't seeing the big picture
"That is just typically short-sighted legislative thinking, keeping a nickel in hand and letting the dollar go," said Harrell, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. "If we land this bowl game, we could pump $48 million into the state's economy, $4 or $5 million of that straight to state tax coffers. That's six or seven times our investment and that doesn't even include the good publicity that the state would get from this."
That's not the way some people see it, especially those who are forced to deal with the cuts now.
"I think the libraries' budget during the past several years has been cut substantially and the Legislature should think carefully about cutting it any further," said Glenn Vetter, president of the Charleston County Friends of the Library.
Asked his thoughts on the money going to the library as opposed to the stadium, he said, "I don't know whether it's an either, and or, but from my perspective I would rather see the money go to the library."
He said he and other library representatives are scheduled to meet with lawmakers in Columbia on Wednesday to discuss library funding.
The state lost nearly 1,000 teachers this school year because of budget cuts, some districts go without classroom computers and nearly half the $23 million designated for new school buses in last year's budget was diverted to parts and maintenance because nearly half of the state's 5,600 buses are more than 15 years old.
"The data collection requirements for classroom teachers have really accelerated with the Education Accountability Act and No Child Left Behind, and all that data submission is computerized," said state Education Department spokesman Jim Foster. "It makes it more efficient for a teacher to do that work in his or her classroom. Plus, teachers use computers a lot more as they build their lesson plans and do research. The Internet has become an additional tool for today's students, just like a book, a slide rule or a pencil. Computers are not a luxury anymore, and we could use more of them."
Two of the things Democrats will be fighting to fund instead of stadium expansion in Charleston when the proposed state spending bill for next year hits the House floor Tuesday are more state troopers and a middle school reading program, said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia.
"Public safety is a compelling issue since we've lost more than 100 troopers since the budget problems began," Lourie said.
In education, he said $1.3 million was cut and a program that provides reading assistance to middle school students was eliminated.
"You could at least take $700,000 and reinstate the core part of that program," Lourie said. "Those are two glaring examples that we will be talking about next week," he said.
