Sumter school board may cut positions, salaries, budget to be able to reopen Mayewood Middle School

Trustees vote for law firm to assist them through their appeal of a state-declared fiscal emergency in the district without revealing specific details of financial plan

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Other than saying budget cuts may include salary and position cuts, the Sumter School District board of trustees is moving forward with its appeal of the state education department’s fiscal emergency declaration for the district without detailing specific points of the appeal.

At a special called meeting Monday night, the trustees chose a law firm to assist the school board in its appeal to the State Board of Education — a move they had to make within 10 days of State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman’s declaration, according to protocol Spearman wrote in a letter to the district last week.

The declaration was made after the full board voted last month to reopen Mayewood Middle School next year after it had voted in April 2018 to close it due to low enrollment and as a way to save money. The district is still coming out of a financial crisis from when it was revealed through an official audit there was $6.2 million in overspending.

In a response to the state department, district administration could not present financial scenarios that showed how the district could reopen the school and build its general fund balance to one month’s operating expenditures by June 30, 2020, as required by a new state law. After it had receded to $106,449 in fiscal 2016, the fund balance is expected to break $10 million by the end of this year.

After the fiscal emergency declaration, the board voted 7-2 to appeal to the State Board of Education on Thursday and said it would include some of the basic explanations in its rationale this week. Now they are saying they will not.

It was expected those points would include facility complications and issues with the first-year consolidation of Mayewood into R.E. Davis Elementary School this year. The new financial plan will involve budget cuts and may include salary and position cuts, Canty said, but he couldn’t elaborate further at this time.

“There has got to be some trimming of the budget,” board Chairman the Rev. Ralph Canty said, “and some rethinking of the systems we have in place.”

The board will wait to detail those points in its appeal when it has its hearing with the state board within 30 days, Canty said.

“During those 30 days, we will be preparing our response to the request of the state department,” Canty said.

The Sumter school board’s goal is to present a plan that includes reopening Mayewood while also achieving one month’s operating expenditures in its fund balance by next year.

“It is the hope of the majority of the board that the state board will trust our integrity to move forward with a plan that we bring the district into compliance with the state department of education,” Canty said.

The vote Monday appeared to be seven votes by hand for the motion with one abstention, which came from trustee Johnny Hilton. Board members voting in favor of moving ahead with the appeal with a selected law firm were Brian Alston, Frank Baker, Barbara Jackson, Matthew “Mac” McLeod, the Rev. Daryl McGhaney, Shawn Ragin and Sherril Ray.

Canty did not appear to raise his hand in favor of the motion but said afterward that he voted in favor for the law firm, which was not named.