Type:
Research & StudiesThe Education Committee of the League of Women Voters Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Area (LWVHHI-BA) following considerable study recommends that the LWVHHI-BA Board support the November 5 Bond Referendum, which will give the Beaufort County School District the authority to borrow money for specific projects to provide essential safety and security upgrades in all school buildings, to renovate aging school buildings, to add classroom space in growth areas, and to provide technology upgrades.
On the ballot, the Bond Referendum will be structured in two questions. Question 1 will seek approval of one set of projects of about $290 million and Question 2 the second set of projects of about $54 million. The second set of projects (Question 2) will be approved and funded only if voters also approve Question 1. The wording of the referendum is attached to this report.
The Education Committee's recommendation to the Board requests support for both Question 1 and Question 2 of the referendum.
The Education Committee has determined that its support is consistent with the following positions and priorities of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. They are under the broad categories of Education and State and Local Taxation of the Agenda for Action, 2017 – 2019.
Under the Education heading: "LWVSC supports of public state-supported education at all levels which is high quality, effective, equitable, fully funded and accountable."
Under the State and Local Taxation heading: "LWVSC supports a system of state and local taxation in South Carolina that is equitable and provides adequate revenue for public purposes." More specifically, the state position statement elaborates that there should be "shared responsibility for financing education between state and local resources so as to ensure access for quality education for all students while maintaining a significant local role in supporting and managing the public schools."
THE LWVHHI-BA LEAGUE EDUCATION STUDY INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING:
1. Review of the Work of the Community Project Review Committee (CPRC)
The Community Project Review Committee (CPRC) members were nominated by Board members and school principals and included parents, business people, and retirees. They were assisted by district staff and aided by outside professionals when needed. They also visited schools in the Beaufort County School District and other South Carolina districts to learn how these other county school districts have dealt with challenges similar to those that Beaufort County faces. Committee members worked more than 900 hours between January 2019 and April 2019 to accumulate and discuss information on the school district's facilities needs in preparation for making recommendations about a possible bond referendum to Interim Superintendent Herb Berg.
CPRC members received presentations from a school safety and security consulting firm, a demographer, four school architectural consultants, the Town of Bluffton, a playground equipment vendor, a school furniture vendor, and district staff.
After making school site visits, reviewing the presentations from outside experts and evaluating potential projects across the Beaufort County School District, CPRC members identified a total of $629 million in district-wide facility needs. The CPRC also assigned overarching priorities to those projects based on their importance to ensuring student and staff safety, maintaining equitable school facilities in all parts of the district, improving student achievement, and enhancing educator effectiveness. This information was submitted to Interim Superintendent Berg and was ultimately the basis for Board of Education decisions on the 2019 Referendum. The referendum as agreed to is for $290,555,000 for Question 1 and $54,055,000 for Question 2.
All CPRC meetings, presentations, and site visit comments are documented and preserved at this link: http://beaufortschools.net/cms/One.aspx?portalId=170925&pageId=22190812
2. Visits to Schools
Members of our Education Committee visited May River High School, Battery Creek High School, River Ridge Academy, and Robert Smalls International Academy. We were impressed by the administrators and teachers whom we met. It was good to see how their efforts to deal with the inadequacy of their facilities helped minimize detrimental effects on the students, but those efforts have resulted in just temporary and partial fixes. For longer-term and more complete fixes, the passage of the bond referendum is really needed.
A key point made by the principal of Robert Smalls Elementary School is that the most important conveyors of education are parents, then teachers, and also of great importance, the environment. Leaking windows and roofs, mercury in the gym floor, and malfunctioning HVAC systems are not conducive to learning.
3. Meetings with Key Players
Education Committee members and the President of our League met with Superintendent Frank Rodriguez, a CPRC representative, and key district staff members in early August. The Education Chair and President of the Beaufort Area League were in attendance as well. There have been subsequent opportunities to follow up on this meeting with questions for Carol Crutchfield of the school administration and meetings with CPRC members.
Based on its study, the Education Committee came to the following CONCLUSIONS:
- Real needs are addressed by the referendum, and they cannot be addressed adequately except by passing the referendum. By law, capital projects cannot be financed from the school's operating budget. Without a referendum, the school district can only borrow up to 8% of the assessed value of all property in Beaufort County. These 8% funds are generally for maintenance. With the failure of two prior referenda in 2016 and 2018, the Capital Projects and maintenance needs to be addressed by this referendum are even more urgent. In addition, there has been no approved referendum by citizens of Beaufort County in 11 years.
- In developing the referendum, the school district sought and received input from the community that reflected the diversity of the community. The membership and efforts of the Community Project Referendum Committee (CPRC) provided diverse input from all of the district's school communities.
- The referendum targets concerns of parents and community members such as overcrowding, school safety, equity in school facilities, schooling, and Career and Technology Education (CATE). While several of the identified projects are school-specific, there are projects that are for schools across the whole district, e.g. safety and security upgrades and also technology upgrades. A district-wide projects by cluster listing is available on the district website..
- The proposed referendum request is in line with those proposed historically by South Carolina school districts. Beaufort County's last successful referendum was in 2008 or 11 years ago when a bond referendum for $163 million was passed. In the past ten years, school enrollment has increased by 17% and is now over 22,000 students. Aiken's school population is not too different. It has about 24,000 students, but in the past ten years, it has increased by less than half of one percent. It passed referendums of $236 million in 2010, $188 million in 2014 and $90 million in 2018. Lexington County has grown by 21% in the last ten years and has almost 27,000 students. It passed a bond referendum for $336 million in 2008 and one for $365 million in 2018.
- By law, money from the bond referendum cannot be used for anything other than the specific projects listed in the referendum. This legal restraint, in concert with the planned implementation of an oversight committee (see the description below) will provide accountability with responsibility for monitoring the development and completion of the projects should the referendum be approved.
- There are safeguards in place, such as an oversight committee including community members, to monitor the district's post-referendum spending. Superintendent Frank Rodriguez will appoint a broad-based committee of community members who will monitor all aspects of referendum funding, project design, construction, and completion. Regular reports will be submitted to the Beaufort Board of Education and archived on the school district website for ongoing communication with taxpayers as to the progress of projects.
- The school district has made essential information available. Initially, public awareness and information about the work of the Community Project Review Committee (CPRC) during the period January-April was limited. Records of their work, including meeting minutes, documents reviewed, site visits, and presentations by experts, are now available on the district's website under the Referendum 2019 section.
In summary, both Question 1 and Question 2 of the Referendum are worthy of support. Beaufort County School District's bond ratings are excellent and among the best in South Carolina. Taxpayers will benefit in allowing the district to take advantage of present lower interest rates as a result of the district's high bond rating. As seen in the following Impact on Taxpayers included in this Report, the increase in taxes would be modest. Also, the items in Question 2 will continue to be needed and will be more expensive in the future. While some of them might be able to be funded by 8% funds, that would deplete future use of these funds for day-to-day maintenance items.
~The LWVHHI-BA Education Committee
Kathy Quirk, Chair
Karen Arms, Carol Barker, Carol Beck, Diane Heitman, Fran Holt, Patricia Felton-Montgomery, Barbara Nielson, Loretta Warden
Kathy Quirk, Chair
Karen Arms, Carol Barker, Carol Beck, Diane Heitman, Fran Holt, Patricia Felton-Montgomery, Barbara Nielson, Loretta Warden
League to which this content belongs:
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Area