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Educators, school board members, parents, and residents packed the room for April 4 legislative delegation meeting that involved a discussion on school district consolidation.
Rep. Lonnie Hosey (left) and Sen. Brad Hutto (right) met with Barnwell County Council on April 4.
Senator Brad Hutto and Representative Lonnie Hosey met with Barnwell County Council and members of the community and discussed imminent county-wide school consolidation alongside other topics.
This legislative delegation meeting was held Tuesday, April 4 at 6 p.m. in the SouthernCarolina Alliance building. More chairs were added to accommodate the large number of attendees compared to the council’s regularly scheduled meetings.
The agenda was amended to allow public comment; three minutes for one person to speak on why they are anti-consolidation and three minutes for one person to speak on why they are pro-consolidation.
“I think it's a mistake to force Barnwell District 45 into consolidation,” said Barnwell County School District 45 (BSD45) board member Rhett Richardson. “I think the job of our legislators is to do the will of the people, and I think that overwhelmingly the citizens of District 45 are opposed to consolidation.”
“The reason for this consolidation is for the betterment of our students,” said Barnwell County Consolidated School District (BCCSD) board member Ken Beatty. “If you knew how hard it was just to attract teachers nowadays, let alone give the students the education that they deserve and need, you would understand the reason for the consolidation.”
$105 million dollars is secured to fund this consolidation, which Sen. Hutto called ‘an unprecedented opportunity.’
According to Senator Hutto, Barnwell County was the only county the state offered $105 million to build a new high school.
“When we are going to get $105 million dollars that you don't have to pay your tax money in place of, I think it’s an opportunity to use those funds so we can move forward,” said Rep. Hosey, who noted other counties would have welcomed this money.
Barnwell County, along with 15 others, is in a region designated by the state as the ‘Corridor of Shame.’ According to Representative Hosey, “that corridor is saying that students and schools located in the district are not receiving the same kind of support and revenue that the other school districts in S.C. like Greenville, Charleston are receiving.”
Aside from being known as a member of the Corridor of Shame, Barnwell County is also at risk of being left out from certain Savannah River Site (SRS) benefits if consolidation does not occur.
Barnwell County Council Chairman Jerry Creech recounted a conversation he had with SRS officials when he and other Barnwell County representatives visited Washington, D.C. in early March.
“The head of nuclear regulations came to me and said, ‘Mr. Creech, if y’all don’t consolidate into one high school in Barnwell County, we are not coming into Barnwell County like we do in Aiken,’” said Chairman Creech.
According to Chairman Creech, SRS has already begun implementing programming into Aiken County schools to create job ready, future employees. If Barnwell County schools do not consolidate, SRS will not be as inclined to enhance this programming for the county’s students and future workforce.
According to Sen. Hutto, school districts with a population of less than 1500 students have issues attracting teachers. The State Department of Education Active Student Headcounts records the number of students enrolled in each district in the state at three points in the year. The 45-day headcount states BSD45 had 1,974 enrolled and BCCSD had 1,194.
Both Sen. Hutto and Rep. Hosey commented on the advanced technology, updated facilities, and more opportunities found in schools in more populated areas like Greenville, Charleston, Lexington, or Spartanburg – and felt Barnwell County students deserve this, too.
“They have high schools like college campuses,” said Rep. Hosey. “Our children deserve more. It's not about us seniors, adults, it's about the children.”
“When your children go to school tomorrow, when your children go to school next year, they’ll be in the same classrooms, they’ll have the same teacher they were scheduled to have, they’ll be taking the same curriculum they were slated to take,” said Senator Hutto. “You’re not going to see a change right away.”
Some of the changes with a consolidated school district would be universal teacher pay in the county, a universal curriculum, and one set of administrators.
“There is no reason in Barnwell County that we need two sets of bus directors, two sets of librarians, two sets of everything,” said Sen. Hutto.
“Once consolidation is finished in the next few weeks, we’ll have an announcement of the five initial school board members,” said Sen. Hutto.
Many of these changes will be decided by the appointed, five-member school board that will guide the consolidation process until an elected board can be voted on by citizens.
This board will determine how the current buildings are used and for what grades or purpose. It will decide if the services offered by the Barnwell County Career Center will be folded into the new high school or if it will remain in a separate location.
The BCCC building is currently owned by both BSD45 and BCCSD. Before BCCSD was created, the former Williston-Elko District 29 and Blackville-Hilda District 19 each held ownership. When the Barnwell County School District is formed, the BCCC building will be owned by that district.
“The millage for that career center is going to be folded into the new school board’s millage, and no longer be part of the county council millage,” said Sen. Hutto.
While the appointed school board is in place, the millage of BCCSD, BSD45, and BCCC will be rolled into one. The elected school board will then set the millage going forward.
“The tax millage for all citizens across the county, no matter where you live, will be the same,” said Hutto.
Barnwell County Council Chairman Jerry Creech asked the legislators if the millage rates between the county and school districts will balance out once the districts consolidated.
“Right now, the school districts get 58% of the tax dollar in Barnwell County, the county gets 42%, will that new millage balance out to give the counties 50% and the schools 50%?” asked Chairman Creech.
Sen. Hutto said it was possible but up to the elected school board: “The millage is going to transfer right now as is to the new school board, and then that school board will have some physical autonomy to decide what it will be going forward.”
Chairman Creech inquired about beginning the process of transferring the $105 million currently with the state to Barnwell County, to which Senator Hutto said was a matter of starting paperwork. Barnwell County must request the allocated SRS funding.
According to Sen. Hutto, $20 million was added to the state’s consolidation budget for this year, and Barnwell County is eligible to apply.
“We may be the only school district that is consolidating this year that may be eligible to access that money,” said Sen. Hutto, who said these funds won't be able to be sought until July.
On April 6, the bill was read for the third time and enrolled for ratification. It will then head to Governor Henry McMaster’s office.
In total, $110 million was allocated to Barnwell County from SRS funding during this fiscal year: $105 million for the consolidation BSD45, BCCSD, and BCCC and $5 million for multipurpose buildings in Barnwell, Blackville, and Williston. Both Barnwell and Blackville were allocated $2 million, and Williston was allocated $1 million.
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