Schools bear brunt in budget Senate passes

Sen J. Verne Smith in his Greer home. Staff/George Gardner e-mail this story Related Related stories: • School programs being cut

State Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, said it was the first time in his 31 years in the Legislature that the Senate produced a budget smaller than was sent to that body from the House of Representatives. And he made clear his view that the document did not reflect positively on the Senate.

"I'm ashamed of myself that it's happening this year," said Smith.

The $4.997 billion Senate version of the state budget is $20.45 million less than the $5.018 billion spending plan produced by the House.

It does not include a $171 million tax increase on cigarettes sought by Finance Committee leaders to shore up the state's Medicaid health insurance program for poor children and the elderly.

"I sure want to provide the Medicaid match somehow, and I still have hope," Smith said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said he still hopes to pass the cigarette tax in a separate bill.

Leatherman said the cost of health care for the poor will be shifted by hospitals to people who can pay through higher rates if the state does not adequately fund Medicaid.

The Senate will return today to take another crack at the 53-cents-per-pack cigarette tax increase in a separate bill, and possibly at a sales tax increase to boost per-student education spending closer to the $2,201 figure recommended by a formula in the Education Finance Act.

State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum has warned that such spending levels will mean large property tax increases in some of the state's 86 school districts, and layoffs of thousands of teachers in districts where local boards are either unwilling or unable to increase local taxes.

Leatherman said he would not support a 2-cent sales tax increase supported by the Democrats, a $1.1 billion tax increase he said was not acceptable to voters in his district.

But he said he might be open to some other plan that would boost education spending when the Senate returns today.

The last time per-student spending was at levels appropriated Wednesday by the Senate was in 1994-1995, when the per-pupil figure was $1,619. Steady up ticks in state appropriations took the figure to its peak of $2,073 in 2001-2002.

This year's original appropriation was $2,033, but mid-year spending cuts took per-pupil spending down to $1,775.

Gov. Mark Sanford said he had not yet reviewed the Senate budget but he still hoped they would pass his revenue plan that would raise cigarette taxes and reduce state income taxes.

Sanford visited the Senate three times Wednesday, buttonholing Democratic senators in an effort to win support for the tax swap he has endorsed. The Republican governor won office in part on a pledge to reduce or eliminate the state income tax over two decades.

His current proposal would reduced the top rate of 7 percent to 5 percent over a period of years, and then only as growth in the economy would mean no net loss of revenue for the state. He said he has agreed in recent days to stretch out the number of years necessary to fully implement the plan in hopes of winning over more senators.

"I think outcomes like that show what remarkable budget times in which we live," Sanford said.

"Our hope, though, is that they will come back and take one last look at what we proposed that would afford us $400 million in matching funds that could go a long way to remedying some of the real needs that exist in education and health care and other things. I think when push to comes to shove in analyzing this budget, we may be found wanting," Sanford said.

Senate Democratic Leader John Land, D-Manning, said the Legislature has not funded education at a responsible level.

"We can let all these other agencies go, but we must do right by our children. This year, we did not fund them adequately," Land said.

Land predicted the Senate would not pass the cigarette tax if it is wedded to Sanford's income-tax reduction. "A lot of people don't understand (the income tax plan) and neither do I," he said.

The difficult tug-of-war over the budget led Sen. Land to compare the passage of the appropriations bill to a "breech birth."

The silver-haired grandfather from Manning had birthing on his mind as he headed for home Wednesday night to await the birth of his seventh grandchild.

"I hope the one coming tonight is not breached. By tomorrow morning, I think I'll be able to announce that John Calhoun Land V has been born," Land said. Then considering the possibilities, added, "But then, she might not like that name."