School finance on state's agenda

COLUMBIA — More than 30 years have passed since the state designed its plan to fund education, and now it is simply no longer working.

Two factors are forcing lawmakers to touch this political hot potato for the first time in decades:

--Tax reform in 2006 that swapped sales tax for property tax funding makes the Education Finance Act obsolete.

--At the same time, fast-growing districts — often South Carolina's best schools — are facing deficits from the burden of so many new students and few alternatives to raise cash.

The fight will pit urban and rural lawmakers from wealthy and poor areas and challenge the Lowcountry and Upstate power structures. In the middle: one single pot of money that will mean winners and losers.

The goal is for legislators to work out potential solutions this summer and fall so the debate can begin at the start of the Legislature's two-year session in January.

Three efforts are under way, one in the House, another in the Senate and a third in the state Department of Education.

The House Education Finance Act Study Committee meets today to start drafting a report due in November that will serve as a basis for bills legislators could introduce as solutions to fix the funding problems.

Many lawmakers and leaders have spoken on the need for reform in the funding formula, including state education Superintendent Jim Rex, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and outgoing Rep. Bill Cotty, a Columbia Republican who had previously served eight years on the Richland 2 school board.

Cotty, a member of the House study committee, said the public needs to demand change. He also called on political leaders such as Harrell and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, both Charleston Republicans, to shepherd it through. Statesmen are needed to guide the reform effort as legislators will fight for what's best in individual districts, not the state as a whole, Cotty said.

"When I see all the greed and the give-me-for-nothing, and 'I want more' and 'I don't care about your county, I got my problems' — then right now, for the short term, I myself am a pessimist about it," Cotty said.

Cotty also emphasized that any reform must include changes to the taxing system.

"None of that happens with the same or less dollars," Cotty said.

Education spending is the state's largest budgetary item, totaling approximately $3.3 billion for public schools. That figure includes state revenue and lottery funds.

The Education Finance Act measures the taxing ability of each county based on its appraised property. That means wealthier districts such as Charleston County get less money.

Legislators, though, regularly pass stopgap measures to send more money to districts punished by the formula. As education costs rise and the economy sinks, finding millions more to shift to certain districts is taking more political capital than ever.

Diette Courrégé contributed to this report. Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@postandcourier.com.