State Rep. Becky Richardson, R-Fort
Mill, sounds a little like Marie Antoinette. On the one hand, she
votes to put the Fort Mill school district on a starvation diet and
then, on the other hand, chides district officials for failing to
meet expenses.
This is ludicrous, outlandish and, we suspect, entirely
calculated. Richardson undoubtedly hopes to deflect attention from
her role in failing to provide local districts with the money they
need to run their schools.
The Fort Mill school district got socked by a one-two punch this
year. First, the district came up $553,000 short in its budget for
next year, thanks largely to lack of funding from the state.
Fort Mill is not alone. Districts throughout the state have been
forced to take drastic measures to make ends meet, including staff
and teacher layoffs and elimination of programs.
But York County's four school districts -- Fort Mill, Rock Hill,
York and Clover -- earlier had been willing to raise local taxes to
meet those basic needs. To do so, however, they needed permission
from the local legislative delegation to raise taxes up to 10 mills,
four mills beyond the yearly 6-mill cap set by the General
Assembly.
At first, the delegation went along and passed the proposal,
which was approved by the full state Senate. But when the bill came
up for a vote in the House, Rep. Herb Kirsh, D-Clover, requested it
be tabled. Reps. Richardson, Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill, Greg
Delleney, R-Chester, and DeWitt McCraw, D-Gaffney, voted with Kirsh,
effectively killing the bill.
Only Reps. Bessie Moody-Lawrence, D-Rock Hill, and Eldridge
Emory, D-Lancaster, voted against tabling the bill.
Richardson, stung by criticism of her vote, decided to add insult
to injury. On May 27 and 28, she requested budget information
through the Freedom of Information Act regarding money spent by the
Fort Mill school district on travel and administration salaries.
She then questioned those expenses, insinuating that
administrators were too well paid, that district travel was
unnecessary and that the district should "get creative" in finding
ways to save money.
Of course, none of the information Richardson retrieved was a
secret. Salaries and other district expenses are public information
and are well reported at school board meetings.
Richardson, in second-guessing these expenses, apparently
believes local school board members are not capable of overseeing
the district's finances. After all, the school board, which is
accountable to the voters of Fort Mill, must approve the budget,
including the salaries of administrative staff.
The performance of students in the Fort Mill school district is
among the best in the state. The district has nothing to apologize
for.
Richardson, on the other hand, should apologize for her behavior.
The hypocrisy of her attempt to place blame on the district for the
abject failure of the Legislature to fund education in this state is
shameful. It is politics at its ugliest.
We hope the voters see through this transparent ploy and hold
Richardson accountable -- along with the other members of the
legislative delegation who voted to tie the hands of local school
officials and to deprive schools of the money they need to give
their students a decent education.
|
Rep. Richardson is trying to shift focus from lawmakers'
failure to fund education.
|
