News
School funding proviso helps local school districts
February 25, 2010
School funding proviso helps local school districts
By FELICIA KITZMILLER
Committee approval of an important budget proviso has several area districts cautiously optimistic they will achieve at least one small victory this budget year.
On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a proviso suspending, for the current fiscal year, a change in the way the index of taxpayer ability is calculated.
The change would hurt all of Greenwood County's school districts -- Ninety Six School District to the tune of about $550,000 and Greenwood District 50 about $248,244. Ware Shoals Superintendent Fay Sprouse said she hadn't calculated the exact amount her district would lose, and it was minimal compared to the other Greenwood districts, but she knew it would cost them state funding.
The index of taxpayer ability is a ratio comparing a district's wealth to that of the entire state, Ninety Six chief financial officer Rodney Smith said. It is one of the instruments used to determine the balance between state and local funding.
When Act 388 removed school operations taxes on residential properties, those properties were not immediately removed from the index of taxpayer ability. The change was set to occur for the 2010-11 budget year.
For many rural districts, removing those properties from the calculation causes the index to increase, making the district appear wealthier than it really is, Smith said.
The result of which would be a shift in the burden of school funding more onto local government, but since Act 388 also caps the amount county governments can raise taxes, the local government would have no method of raising the additional revenue, and schools would have to do without, Smith said.
"It would disproportionately hurt rural districts, which is why the proviso was introduced," Smith said.
Reach Kitzmiller via email at fkitzmiller@indexjournal.com.
