District 17 board displays entitlement mentality

By RANDY PAGE
South Carolinians for Responsible Government

In mid-March, South Carolina’s House of Representatives promised $11,480 in per pupil funding for the state’s public schools. Based on spending analysis released by the Budget and Control Board, we can expect about $5,051 of that to actually reach classrooms in the form of teacher salaries, textbooks, and instructional material. The remainder, 54 cents on the dollar, will pay for support functions ranging from school and district bureaucracies, to debt service and legal fees.

Consolidation of school districts is one way lawmakers hope to improve the efficiency of education spending. Statewide, the redundancies in district administrators cost taxpayers more than $21 million each year. Studies by the Education Oversight Committee and an Executive Task Force have argued that a one county-one district model would both save money and improve equity.

An obvious candidate for consolidation has long been Sumter County, where Districts 2 and 17 are similar in size, student composition, and test scores. A consolidation bill was passed by the Legislature early in this year and signed by the governor at the end of January. Consolidation in Sumter should save $1.8 million annually by eliminating redundancies in program and district management. That works out to more than $100 per child.

Sumter District 17 is, despite the looming consolidation, pushing forward on its plan for a brand new$3.5 million administration building. The 26,000-square-foot structure is to be built atop a $1.38 million parcel of land. The building will be financed through a controversial installment purchase plan, approved in 2006, which is not subject to the district’s cap on debt. The superintendent of District 2 reports that his administrative complex has both excess office space and land for new buildings, but District 17 is not listening. They insist this “wise and prudent” project must go forward “for the good of Sumter’s children.”

Sumter’s mayor asked District 17 to wait until after the consolidation before building, as have the county’s bipartisan Legislative Delegation, the chamber of commerce and local taxpayer organizations. District bureaucrats insist they must build immediately because the terms of their financing require it. Former school board members and community leaders have asked a judge to force the district to halt the project. On Thursday, district lawyers will appear in court to explain why a restraining order on construction ought not to be issued.

All this speaks to much more than costly bureaucracies and wasteful spending in Sumter. It is sadly indicative of an entitlement mentality among some public servants who treat taxpayer money as their own. It shows their total disregard for the spirit of the laws passed by our elected officials. Most offensive is the way in which these public educators claim an exclusive power to act in the best interest of our state’s children.

Consolidation should work to improve accountability in Sumter but only an educational system driven by parental choices, not centralized bureaucratic planning, can guarantee a truly transparent and responsive delivery of K-12 instruction in South Carolina.

Randy Page serves as president of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a statewide grassroots organization that promotes limited government, lower taxes and increased educational options. Page may be reached at randy@scrgov.org