How SC governor’s order on race could disrupt Midlands school district
The governor’s executive order prohibiting the use of race-based quotas in awarding government contracts is causing headaches for at least one Midlands school district.
The Lexington 1 school board wrestled with hitting pause on its own policy favoring minority-owned businesses in school contracts at its Dec. 16 board meeting, following a decision by Gov. Henry McMaster earlier this month to stop state agencies from awarding contracts based on a business’s minority ownership.
Administrators worried the school district’s own contracting policy, which awards points to an applicant with minority ownership, was in violation of the new order and could upset some contract awards that are already in the pipeline.
“With our procedures that we follow, if we award a bid, it could be in violation” of the governor’s order, Superintendent Keith Price said at the meeting. “But if [the order] doesn’t apply and move forward without [considering the minority business criteria], could be scrutinizing unnecessarily. And we’re trying to move forward with scheduled work we’re trying to complete by a certain deadline.”
McMaster’s Dec. 3 executive order calls on state agencies and universities to hit pause on issuing any new contracts based on laws that require awarding a set number of contracts to minority-owned businesses. The governor’s order is similar to a federal one issued earlier this year by President Donald Trump.
Lexington 1’s procurement policies are required to align with those of the S.C. Department of Education, which is one of the state agencies affected by the order, District Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Miller told board members.
Currently, state law dating back to the 1980s requires certain agencies to spend a set percentage toward minority businesses. McMaster said he plans to work with legislative leaders to repeal those requirements when the Legislature returns to Columbia in January amid a broader conservative pushback against race-based policies across the country.
Under McMaster’s order, existing contracts will be unaffected, but Lexington 1 officials said confusion around the directive could still delay action on some outstanding bids the central Lexington County school district needs to fill. Even if the minority criteria isn’t decisive or even applicable, administrators feared that awarding district contracts under the current policy could lead those awards to be called into question.
“Unfortunately, have not received a lot of guidance” from the state on how the executive order will be interpreted or implemented, Miller said. “This came out very quickly and everyone is trying to determine what’s going to happen.”
But the board ended up rejecting a request to temporarily pause the use of its own criteria at last week’s meeting. Board member McKenzie Flashnick pointing to a lack of action from other school districts in response to the governor’s order.
“If no one else makes changes, we can hold tight,” Flashnick said.
Board member Chris Rice moved that the board delay any action until its January meeting, when the district will hopefully have received more guidance from the Education Department. If a truly crucial decision needs to be made before then, he said board members could have a specially called meeting to address it.
“This feels like a knee-jerk reaction to an order that may not apply to us,” he said.
Rice’s motion was passed with support from Flashnick, Mike Anderson and Beth Shealy. Kathy Henson voted against the motion, and Katie McCown abstained.
“We’re getting caught up in a national culture war, and I don’t want our kids to be the middle of it,” Rice said.
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