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A 1998 judicial ruling in Cherokee County, concerning a school superintendent’s evaluation by the board of trustees, declares that virtually everything related to job performance must be disclosed to the public. Further, the 1998 General Assembly amended the FOIA to declare that information on the final three candidates for any public employment position must be disclosed to the public.
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SCSBA believes these rulings are having negative effects on school districts seeking qualified candidates for positions ranging from superintendents to teachers and discouraging the open and honest comment that is often invaluable to any meaningful evaluation process. |
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SCSBA believes that, although those choosing to devote themselves to public service enter a certain realm of openness, information of a personal and private nature such as that often contained in personnel and job applicant files must be protected from disclosure. |
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UNFUNDED MANDATES
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| Position: SCSBA supports amending the South Carolina Constitution to prohibit state mandates on local units of government unless that mandate is fully funded by the state. |
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SCSBA has long opposed unfunded mandates. The issue comes up each legislative session when legislators pass programs and directives at the state level knowing that state funds are not available. In most instances local taxpayers feel the fiscal impact of these unfunded mandates. |
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The legislature has passed laws to protect cities and counties from unfunded state mandates, with certain exceptions. While the same type of law could be passed to protect school districts, such legislative enactments are often subject to political upheavals or other power shifts. |
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A constitutional amendment, on the other hand, carries the weight of the state's voting public. An amendment to the state constitution must first be approved by the voters as a referendum question in the general election. If the legislature received such a directive from the citizens of South Carolina, it would have to act to ratify such an amendment. In this case, if voters agreed to change the constitution to protect school districts from unfunded mandates, the legislature would have the full power of the constitution backing the change. |
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LOCAL CONTROL OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS
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| Position: SCSBA supports local control in the governance of school districts. SCSBA supports the right of local boards to determine public school choice options within their own districts. |
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One of the key strengths of high-quality public education is the emphasis on local decision making. The local school board is the body closest to the community and reflects the community’s commitment to its schools. |
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One of the four major roles of a school board is accountability for the district’s mission. When school boards are able to exercise appropriate governance, they become accountable to their community for results. The concept of choice, like any other option for delivery of educational services, should be strictly a local option and should not be a mandate or condition of federal or state education funding. |
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The school board, speaking as one, must reflect the interests of the community in governing the district. It is not appropriate for other political bodies such as county councils to assume this duty from school boards. |
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TAX RELIEF MEASURES
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| Position: SCSBA opposes state-driven sales, residential and personal property tax relief without adequate study of, or provision for, replacement of locally collected property taxes and consideration of implications at the local school district level.
Local school funds must be held harmless or replaced with a stable, predictable, funding source that will fully and equitably fund the public schools.
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Tax relief measures can profoundly impact local and state funding. These initiatives must be analyzed to gauge the impact on equity-based measures that drive public education funding. |
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Any plan to replace residential and personal property taxes must address:
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adequacy issues and the base student cost.
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equity issues related to economic differences between school districts. Past actions that shifted the financial burden from the state to local level and added required programs have had a disproportionate impact on property- and industry-poor districts. Replacing local dollars with state funds will require a serious look at all educational funding formulas and programs.
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options available to local school districts so they may go beyond the minimum programming. What happens when the residential or personal property tax option is taken away? Will local districts be left with only a reliance on business taxes to fund the same programs? Will local districts be forced to rely on county councils for replacement funds distribution?
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ADVOCACY EFFORTS
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| Position: SCSBA strongly encourages local school board members to take a leadership role in developing support for public education at all levels of government. When local boards participate in SCSBA advocacy efforts, they strengthen SCSBA's efforts to represent public school governance at the state and federal levels. |
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Since advocacy is one of the strategies adopted by SCSBA and since the South Carolina legislature has the power to impact greatly on public education in this state, SCSBA should focus whatever resources are needed in this area. |
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When all local school boards exercise an active advocacy role, they can positively affect legislation for elementary and secondary education. |
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School boards are encouraged to develop and maintain a working relationship with local legislators. School board members must stay up-to-date on pertinent legislation, regulations and judicial rulings that affect their districts. Board members must also mobilize the pressure necessary for effective educational policy changes. |
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