"They are filled with people who are a product of what we see around us," the first-grade teacher said of area poverty. "We're willing to spend money to build prisons, but not schools. We need to do more prevention."

She hopes the new statewide 1-cent sales tax that replaces residential property taxes to operate schools will bring some relief.

More than 85 percent of the students at Wallace Elementary/Middle School where she teaches are on free or reduced-price lunch. The community's tax base is low, and so are salaries. The school lost about 25 percent of its teachers last school year, West said.

David Sherbine, Marlboro County schools superintendent, said the penny sales tax approved during the legislature last spring will bring some relief in the short term. It guarantees that counties in poverty will receive up to $2.5 million each in sales tax revenues to replace residential property taxes. Marlboro received $690,000 of last year's budget from residential property taxes, so the sales tax will add about $1.3 million to the school district's operating revenue.

Counties in poverty with more than one school district will have to share the $2.5 million and might not fare as well, Sherbine points out.

Increased proceeds from the sales tax in future years will be based on inflation and population growth. Marlboro, Sherbine said, has not had big population increases.

But state Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill, points out that after the first year, the amount each district receives will be weighted per pupil.

"One of the factors considered in the weighting will be poverty," said Hayes, a senate finance committee member who also chairs a Senate committee on the state Education Finance Act. "These rural districts generally don't have great numbers in growth, but they have other needs. When they build in the poverty factor, it should balance it."

What about federal dollars?

Poverty and low test scores are correlated, according to experts. Schools with more than 50 percent of their students on free and reduced-price lunch receive federal Title I money for education.

Marlboro schools received $690,000 in Title I money last year, but will get one-third of that this year because the pot is being spread among more school districts. That meant the district had to reduce some of its progress made last year on classroom size and salary increases.

Because of its poverty ranking, Marlboro schools won an 80-20 matching federal grant recently for up-to-date equipment to analyze academic progress, match classroom materials to student progress and to enhance classroom learning.

The problem is that, even when the schools acquire federal poverty funds for needed technology, some do not have electrical capacity to accommodate them. Voters did not pass last spring's bond referendum to replace dilapidated schools built during the 1950s.

State Rep. Herb Kirsh, D-Clover, said he thinks the new state penny sales tax will help schools in poverty. Kirsh, who sits on the House budget committee, said districts in poverty were considered when the bill was formulated.

"I think it will work," he said. "If not, anything we've done, it can always be changed."

As for West, statistical projections indicate half of her kids will not graduate high school, but she's not giving up. She's turning down offers in nearby Laurinburg, N.C., where salaries are higher, and there's a considerable signing bonus and more perks.

"I've stayed here because my heart's here," she said. "Money's not everything."