County-wide consolidation coming

Senator Brad Hutto and Representative Lonnie Hosey met with community members on Oct. 20 to discuss the upcoming consolidation of all Barnwell County schools into one district after two merged earlier this year.

“The next step that could possibly happen is there'd be a bill introduced to move forward with consolidating the Barnwell County Consolidated School District (BCCSD) with Barnwell 45 (BSD45) into the Barnwell County School District,” said Senator Hutto.

According to Senator Hutto, the earliest this process can start is December if he and Representative Hosey pre-file the bill for the upcoming legislative session.

“That is what's happened in all the surrounding counties the size of Barnwell, and it's expected that's what's gonna happen here,” said Senator Hutto.

Earlier this year, $100 million of Savannah River Site (SRS) plutonium settlement funds were allocated to fund parts of the upcoming consolidation of the Barnwell School District 45 (BSD45) and the Barnwell County Consolidated School District (BCCSD).

Legislative bill S.956 detailing the appropriation of SRS settlement money states Barnwell County’s funds are to be used for the “construction of consolidated high school and career center and K-8 school for Williston and Blackville.”

According to Senator Hutto, it is envisioned that this money would go toward a county-wide high school and career center, and one K-8 building in Williston or Blackville, but its actual allocation will be decided by an appointed transitional school board.

“Nobody knows yet what the facilities are going to look like, but we know what the needs are going to be,” said Senator Hutto.

The first need recognized is putting all students in the county in one state-of-the-art high school and career center equipped with audio and visual technologies. The second is creating a long-standing K-8 facility.

“The facilities in Barnwell are such that they can last for years to come, but the facilities in Williston and Blackville need to be upgraded,” said Senator Hutto, who explains this decision will be that of an appointed transitional board.

If legislation is passed, a county-wide, transitional board will be appointed in early 2023 to aid the process of consolidating BSD45 and BCCSD, according to Hutto–similarly to the interim board that was tasked with consolidating Williston-Elko School District 29 and Blackville-Hilda School District 19 earlier this year.

The transitional board will determine if current K-8 facilities in Williston and Blackville will be upgraded or rebuilt, and if they will be joined together or remain in separate facilities. This transitional board will then be replaced by an elected school board presiding over the created Barnwell County School District, if legislation passes.

According to Sen. Hutto, the transitional board will be responsible for allocating the $100 million in SRS funds. Many decisions around consolidation will be left to the transitional board; however, Senator Hutto assured community members the consolidation process would not be pushed into 2025.

Former Blackville-Hilda School District 19 Superintendent David Corder, who is the interim director of operations for BCCSD, hopes legislation will be introduced quickly.

“Our school buildings in Blackville and Williston are in rough shape,” said Corder, who explained the faster the districts consolidate the less taxpayers will have to pay to maintain deteriorating facilities that may not even be in use after the county becomes one district.

The pathway to consolidation is incentivized by the Department of Education (DOE) for districts that do not meet the minimum threshold of 1,500 students based on DOE metrics.

Williston District 29 and Blackville District 19 did not meet the threshold before consolidation, and the newly-established BCCSD does not meet the DOE threshold either.

“They still don't have enough students to meet the minimum threshold for a standalone district as far as the state is concerned,” said Senator Hutto.

“The State Department of Education has started with a process to incentivize all the districts that fall below that minimum student threshold to consolidate so that the number of students will be at the level that ideally you can deliver services for on the most economically sustainable basis,” said Senator Hutto, who explained around $10 million was given to BCCSD from the state when Districts 19 and 29 merged earlier this year.

If BSD45 and BCCSD consolidate, it too will be incentivized from the state.

Barnwell County is the last of Senator Hutto’s six districts to consolidate its school districts. In 2019, Senator Hutto pushed the consolidation of three school districts in Orangeburg County to one unified district.

“It's not just Barnwell. We just consolidated the two Bamberg and Denmark districts. We just consolidated the Hampton-Estill districts, Clarendon County just consolidated their three school districts. Florence is in the process of consolidating districts,” said Senator Hutto.

At the meeting, he explained Hampton County is going through the same consolidation process except it is being funded by taxpayers. Barnwell County is able to use SRS settlement money to fund the majority of this consolidation without costing its taxpayers.

With district consolidation comes a universal millage rate set by the district. A millage rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property. With one school district, all of Barnwell County will be all paying the same millage rate.

A county-wide millage rate will aid in prospective industries and businesses moving anywhere in the county, not just within the district with the lowest millage rate.

Williston Town Councilman Eric Moody took to the podium at the community meeting to share his findings on the relationship between educational facilities and industry.

As a member of the Barnwell Economic Development Commission (Barnwell EDC), Councilman Moody explained how prospective industries view the county’s educational facilities–some of which were built in the 1950’s– to determine if they are going to establish in Barnwell County.

To better not only education but industry in the county, Councilman Moody feels consolidation is necessary.

Councilman Moody also said he understood the concerns regarding each school’s legacy, but felt the educational needs of Barnwell County youth were more important.

Prior to Councilman Moody, Blackville native Ted Bellinger asked Senator Hutto and Representative Hosey what would become of each school’s legacy seen through school colors, sports, and mascots. Bellinger said he supports the consolidation 100 percent, but hopes the schools’ individual legacies can be maintained throughout it.

Senator Hutto said the decisions on colors and a mascot would be up to the school board. Some matters of sports, like deciding a division, will be handled by the South Carolina High School League.

“Change is sometimes difficult,” said Senator Hutto, who hopes the community can continue to “press on until Barnwell County is consolidated into one school district.”

“We were disappointed to know that countywide consolidation was the topic of discussion at a recent town hall meeting advertised to discuss a new K-8 school in Williston and Blackville; however, we know the topic of consolidation has come up often,” said BSD45 Board Chair Rosey Anderson on behalf of the board. “As the Board of Trustees of Barnwell School District 45, we do not feel a proposed countywide consolidation is in the best interest of our county’s districts or our communities. We have expressed our concerns to Sen. Brad Hutto and Rep. Lonnie Hosey due to the many implications countywide consolidation may have within our county of which our representatives are not aware.”

At the meeting, Senator Hutto explained how a school system once established by the late Sen. Edgar Brown and the late Rep. Solomon Blatt are being changed by Hutto and Hosey, all for the benefit of Barnwell County scholars and the county as a whole.

Once the bill is filed, the public will be able to view it online and submit their input to Senator Hutto and Representative Hosey. When posted, Senator Hutto plans to take input from Barnwell County educators, administrators, and the community on how to tailor this bill to best fit the community’s needs.