Local taxpayers might not have to dip into
their pockets for school tax increases in the coming year if a measure
that unanimously passed the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee on
Wednesday becomes law.
None of the 18 Republicans and seven Democrats who comprise the
committee opposed the proposal to fully fund per-pupil spending at
$2,290.
The state is currently spending $1,852 per pupil, nearly $400 less
than the $2,234 the Education Finance Act of 1977 said would be required
to ensure full educational support. The state's per pupil costs as
recommended by the EFA have not been fully funded for about five years,
meaning school districts have had to raise local taxes to make up for
lost state dollars.
"I'm sure this item will make it through the full House," Rep. Herb
Kirsh, D-Clover, who sits on the House Ways and Means panel, said after
the committee adjourned Wednesday night. "Who can argue with $2,290 per
pupil?"
Kirsh predicted the committee will finalize the budget today and it
will be taken up by the full House on March 15. If adopted by the House
and Senate, it would still face Gov. Mark Sanford, who already has
introduced his own budget package, including education.
The measure would cost the state an additional $300 million next
year. Kirsh said the state's Board of Economic Advisors is anticipating
additional state dollars in the coming fiscal budget due to existing
surpluses and extra tax dollars the state expects to collect next year.
The committee is working on a total $5.8 billion state budget. The
current budget is about $5.5 billion.
"The economy is a little better," Kirsh said. "I expect them to use
that money wisely for students."
Fort Mill schools Superintendent Thomas "TEC" Dowling was cautiously
optimistic it would be adopted.
"For it to come out of the Ways and Means Committee unopposed may
signal that our officials down there are beginning to realize they have
to provide appropriate funding," Dowling said. "It's also indicative it
will have a better chance of going through the full House. In the past
few years, education has fared better in the Senate than in the House."
Dowling hopes it means the education tax burden will be shifted off
local taxpayers' shoulders.
John Hair, the Rock Hill school district's associate superintendent
for finance and business, said the district is $5 million short on base
student funding because the state has not provided full EFA funding for
several years.
"This would mean about $7 million more in state revenue to the Rock
Hill school district," Hair said.
The district has been trying to "hold the line" on spending for the
past few years and is expecting additional costs when South Pointe High
School opens in the next school year.
"If this passes, we would use that money first before we recommended
any local tax increase," he said. "The increases we have added in the
past few years have been because the money we should have gotten from
the state wasn't there."
Mike Fanning, executive director of the Olde English Consortium, said
he was "thoroughly ecstatic for the first time in several years." One of
the Consortium's responsibilities is to follow government policy for
area schools.
Fanning said the measure the committee adopted contains almost no
"backpacking." Backpacking refers to taking money already being spent in
one pot and placing it in another to make it look larger.
Sanford's education package proposes increased per-pupil spending to
$2,213, but it includes taking money from an existing trust fund for
other student programs and using it for basic student costs.
"Sanford's entire increase is backpacked," he said. "He will have
increased base student costs without spending a dime of additional money
for education."
Dowling said it was refreshing to see legislators "taking an approach
that all we can do is send kudos."
"We've given our elected officials a hard time over the last several
years," he said.
Karen Bair • 329-4080
kbair@heraldonline.com
