Some wealthier SC school districts would get more money under Senate school funding plan
South Carolina’s poorest rural school districts might not get as much money from the state next year as some hoped, after Senate budget writers pushed to send more cash to school districts in their own home counties.
A rural district such as the McCormick County School District could get as much as 22.4% more money from the state to work with in their classrooms in the coming year. Or, it could see as little as 7.5% more, while wealthier districts such as several in Lexington County — home to members of the state Senate’s budget-writing committee — would fare better under the Senate spending plan.
It all comes down to how lawmakers ultimately decide to distribute billions in state money to school districts.
No matter what, South Carolina public schools will get $3.6 billion from the state in the coming year, which is $227 million more than the state spent on education this year. Some of that will go toward increasing the state’s starting teacher pay to anywhere between $38,000 and $40,000.
Individual districts will be left to decide how to spend much of the remaining money, under a new funding formula that grants districts flexibility in what to do with the money. The formula takes into account each district’s number of students, number of special education students, English language learners, number of career and technology students, and how much a district could raise in local property taxes, among other things.
Under a 2006 law however, school districts however cannot tax owner-occupied houses to pay for their operating expenses in exchange for raising the state sales tax by 1 cent to reimburse school districts. But it has led to higher property taxes on commercial properties.
Two competing state spending plans are on the table, with members of the state House and Senate now preparing to mete out their differences.
When the House proposed its education spending plan, it aimed to send more state money to districts with lower property values, which are not able to raise as much money from local property taxes as school districts in wealthier areas.
“These counties don’t have a way to generate any millage as far as the amount they need for operations, and so we found it was much fair to the poor school districts in state,” said state Rep. Bill Whitmire, R-Oconee, who chairs a House Ways and Means subcommittee overseeing education spending.
The House version distributes all of the education money under the new formula and raises the state starting teacher salary to $40,000 from $36,000.
School districts would be able to pay above the minimum salary schedule, which states how much a teacher earns based on experience and education level, if they choose.
While every district would receive more money from the state under the House plan, the percentage increase ranges from1.4%, for districts such as Lexington 1 and York 4, to 22.4% for the McCormick County School District.
The Senate, meanwhile, would distribute anywhere from 5.9% to 7.5% more money to the state’s 77 public school districts and two charter school districts, and would raise starting teacher pay to $38,000.
Under the Senate plan, only new money — above what was budgeted for schools last year — would be distributed under the new formula, as opposed to applying the new formula to the full $3.6 billion being spent on education.
“Let’s apply it to the new incremental funding and then if it works, we can apply it to the entirety of funding next year,” said said state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, who serves on Senate Finance Public Education Subcommittee.
Which school districts will benefit most?
The Senate panel overseeing school district money includes Davis; Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington; Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester; Shane Martin R-Spartanburg; Greg Hembree, R-Horry; and Kevin Johnson, D-Clarendon.
School districts in some of those senators’ home counties do better under the spending plan they crafted.
▪ Lexington 1 would get $8.4 million more in the Senate plan, but only $1.9 million more in the House plan.
▪ Lexington-Richland 5 would get $4.7 million more in the Senate plan, but only $1.1 million more in the House plan.
▪ Spartanburg 1 would get $1.5 million more in the Senate plan, but only $765,000 more in the House plan.
▪ Spartanburg 5 would get $2.5 million more under the Senate plan, but only $705,000 more in the House plan.
▪ Dorchester 2 would get $7.5 million more under the Senate plan, but only $3.4 million more in the House plan.
▪ York 4 would get $4.8 million more under the Senate plan, but only $1.1 million more in the House plan.
▪ Anderson 4 would get an additional $721,000 under the Senate plan, and only $206,000 more under the House plan.
▪ York 2 would get $2 million more under the Senate plan, but only $569,000 more in the House plan.
Meanwhile, other school districts would receive more money from the House’s proposed spending plan. For instance:
▪ Horry County Schools would get an $11 million increase under the Senate plan, but would get $18 million more in the House plan.
▪ Clarendon 2 would get $778,000 more under the Senate plan, but $1.3 million more under the House plan.
▪ Spartanburg 3 would get $813,000 more under the Senate plan, but $896,000 more under the House plan.
▪ Lexington 2 would get $2.5 million more in the Senate plan, but $3.2 million more in the House plan.
Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday told reporters he supported the House version of the funding formula, calling it straightforward.
“We’ve got to see that the money goes to the classroom,” McMaster said. “The formula that the House devised is based on that to show that there’s this amount of money, which is an ample amount of money. If that goes to the classroom, then we’ll be in super shape. So I prefer that. I don’t want to do this with half measures which is what the Senate has proposed. The House bill is the better bill, and it’s excellent.”
No one intended to send more money to school districts where certain senators are from, Setzler said.
“That’s just the way it was. It really was not intentional,” Setzler said.
Ultimately, whatever is decided with the funding formula for this year’s budget needs to be worked out in a conference committee, which is expected to meet later this month and in June. Setzler added that how school districts receive state money is still a work in progress and what is decided this year may not be the final version.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 1:42 PM.
