Colleton Now

High Court Rules In Favor of Schools

The state Supreme Court's ruling can be found here.

Here's our story by Post and Courier Staff Writer Schuyler Kropf.

I'm officially covering Berkeley County now, but feel free to write me at [email protected] if you have a story in Colleton County and we'll see if we can get it covered.

No Decision Yet

Wednesday came and went without a state Supreme Court decision on the schools' alternative financing plan.

But we will have a story in tomorrow's paper letting you know whether Moody's Investors Service believes a negative ruling would have an impact on the $2.5 billion of revenue borrowed through similar programs by districts across the state.

Check it out.

Bloggin' The School Board Debate

(Cutline: From left to right: District 2 incumbent John Barnes, District 4 incumbent Rachel Farris, District 4 challenger Alroy Headden, District 4 challenger Lloyd Jones and District 6 challenger Wayne Shider.)

We won't have a story in Tuesday's paper but here are some of my notes and observations from Monday night's debate that was sponsored by the Colleton County High School Student Government Association.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting yet civil debate. Five of the nine candidates showed up. Read on to find out about  some  humorous moments, a couple of incorrect statements and a  revelation or two.  Also, feel free to add to or dispute any of my observations. That's one of the benefits of having an interactive media (immediate criticism!)

Revelations:

District 6 Trustee Wayne Shider told the crowd that the School Board discussed a couple of other facility proposals before Superintendent Charles Gale proposed the controversial $90 million plan that includes building a new $70 million high school and a new football stadium and a new elementary school in Cottageville.

Shider said those plans included adding a gym at Forest Circle Middle School and closing Colleton Middle. "I agree whole-heartedly with the $90 million," he said, adding that the others were just piece-mealing.

(Note: I apologize that I didn't have time after the  meeting to go more in-depth about the plans or when those discussions took place. I hope to follow up on that sooner than later.)

Corrections:

Shider also made the first of a couple of incorrect or misleading statements made by incumbents - at the least, they conflicted with earlier information distributed to the press. Let us clarify:

Shider said he wasn't certain the $90 million plan even included a tax increase.

Maybe not for the folks at Edisto Beach and some other residents with homes over $100,000 but the vast majority of Colleton County residents  will more than likely see an increase. (The median assessed value of Colleton County homes is about $67,000.)

The reason they will see an increase is because the state legislature last year gave owners of occupied homes worth more than $100,000 an exemption. That means many will be paying less than previously, despite the school debt tax increase. People with homes under the $100,000 threshold, however, won't see a savings because they already have the exemption. This has been reported repeatedly during the last couple of months.

(Note: To be fair to Mr. Shider, we just recently had to run a correction for a mistaken headline in a story involving him.)

The other inaccurate statement came from incumbent Rachel Farris who said that the school district does not have enough 8 percent borrowing capacity to build a new elementary school for Cottageville. (School districts are only allowed to borrow 8 percent of their county's assessed value without a referendum.)

Actually, at least before the alternative financing program was approved, the district had just enough to pay for the new elementary school but it would have been maxed out for the next several years.

Other tidbits:

• Shider, who has served on the School Board for 21 years, mentioned he wanted to run "one more time."

• There were a couple of humorous moments when Farris jokingly - I think - kept blaming opponent Alroy Headden for her difficulties with the microphone.

• Farris also rolled her eyes and smiled when Headden, who's running on a platform of good maintenance for schools, seemed to find a way to squeeze the issue into most of his answers.

• Josh Blackwell, Colleton County High social studies teacher, and Prenita Hudson, Student Government president (pictured), did a good job moderating the event.

• Jones is the only non-incumbent to favor the idea of borrowing $90 million without a referendum. He said people need to trust the School Board. "I feel certain the board made the right decision," he said. "If we put everything on the ballot then we don't need a board."

• District 2 candidate Timmy Benton missed the last two debates because of prior engagements, giving Barnes no one to debate. Barnes said he's the best candidate because he's committed to public education and has seen the system work for his own children. "I don't think it's right to jump on the political bandwagon and simply point fingers," he said.

• Like a previous post mentioned, it was a small to moderate crowd with about 40 people, many of them students.

• I hate to come across as mean - because I don't think I am - but I couldn't have been the only person in the room to cringe when I saw the word "incumbent" repeatedly misspelled "incumbant" on the power point presentation. Hey, it's only an observation.

School Board Debate Tonight At HS

All nine candidates are invited to participate.  The debate is expected to start at 6:30 p.m. and end at about 8:30 p.m. at the high school.

The school is also hosting a pre-debate reception from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., which will include a tour of the school.

Debate Runs Nearly Three Hours

It was a fairly eventful night at the Walterboro-Colleton Chamber of Commerce local candidates debate Monday. You'll have to read the entire story tomorrow, which I'm sorry to say includes very little about the three men above (District 120 Rep. Bill Bowers, his opponent Dr. Joe Flowers and District 121 Rep. Kenneth Hodges, whose opponent was not in attendance.

My reason for the virtual omission is pretty simple: lack of space and time. The School Board and the County Council races had more disagreement on issues that were a little closer to home, making it easier to give readers an idea of their position in a shorter amount of space.

The good news is we will have more on the representative races in the coming days.

District Picks An Architect For HS

Meet the new architect, same as the old architect.

The Colleton County School District selected Liollio Architecture to design the new $70 million high school project. The district selected the Charleston firm over two others.

Liollio is responsible for designing several other Colleton schools, including the Edisto Beach Education and Education Center, Hendersonville Elementary, Northside Elementary and the expansion projects at Forest Circle Middle and Forest Hills Elementary.

Superintendent Charles Gale said the board decided not to fix what wasn't broken. "We have got a good strong track record with them," he said. "When doing something of this magnitude it's nice to have that comfort."

He said they also gave a very good presentation. None of the firms actually bid for the project. Gale said the board made it clear that if it's not satisfied with the costs it will pick one of the other firms.

District Reaches Deal On HS Land

The Colleton County School District has agreed to spend $1.45 million on 100 acres of U.S. 15 land for the new high school.

Read the entire story in Friday's Post and Courier.

Haase: No Deals Were Made

On Sunday we published this story in the Post and Courier about an organized effort to take control of the Colleton County School Board in order to derial the $90 million facilities plan.

Paul Haase, who is running for the Cottageville-area district seat, has submitted a letter to the editor to the local newspapers about statements made by Billy Padgett, who is a driving force behind the effort.

For the sake of open dialogue, I asked if I could post it here as well, unedited. Haase agreed.

Dear Editor:

I would like to set the record straight reference to an articial that ran in Sunday's (10/01/06) Post and Courier. "Hopefuls Targeting $90M Plan"

I have not been recruited by Mr. Billy Padgett or anyone else. As stated before, I was approached by Mr. Padgett long after I decided to run for the School Board District Four. NO DEALS WERE MADE!!!

I have voiced my opinion about the plan from day one as a citzen that the plan should have gone to a public vote.

As stated in part of my press release that all the news papers received:

"I have had a lot of people, approach me wanting to help me with this school board race, I thank them for that, as a reminder to them, if elected I will be representing the District Four voters as their voice and vote"

For copy of my press release or any other question I can be reached at 835-3839.

School Board To Consider HS sites

The Colleton County School Board may decide Tuesday where it wants to put a new high school.

Superintendent Charles Gale said the School Board will examine two tracts during a closed-door session. A vote to accept either one would have to be in open session.

"I'm hoping they will make a decision in selecting one site," Gale said.

It could take a while.

The board will hear presentations from three architect firms bidding for a chance to design the new school. Each presentation has been allotted an hour.

They, too, will be in executive session, Gale said, so as not to give the firm going last an advantage  over the other two.

Special School Board Meeting

The Colleton County School Board has called a special meeting for Tuesday at 6 p.m. to discuss land acquisition.

It's a safe bet to assume the land is for the new high school. I'll let you know more Monday.