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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
INTRODUCED
May 25, 2005
S. 896
L. Printed 5/25/05--S.
Read the first time May 25, 2005.
TO AMEND ACT 526 OF 1996, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ORANGEBURG COUNTY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICTS, THE ELECTIONS OF BOARDS OF TRUSTEES OF THESE DISTRICTS AND THEIR POWERS AND DUTIES, THE ELECTION OF THE ORANGEBURG COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND ITS POWERS AND DUTIES, THE AUTHORITY AND PROCEDURES FOR LEVYING, COLLECTING, AND DISBURSING MILLAGE, SO AS TO ABOLISH THE ORANGEBURG COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, TO CREATE THE ORANGEBURG COUNTY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT FISCAL COMMISSION, AND TO REVISE CERTAIN POWERS AND DUTIES AND CERTAIN PROCEDURES FOR LEVYING, COLLECTING, AND DISBURSING MILLAGE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Sections 3, 4, and 5 of Act 526 of 1996 are amended to read:
"Section 3. (A) There is also established an Orangeburg County Board of Education on July 1, 1997. The county board of education shall consist of seven members elected in nonpartisan elections beginning in 1997 from the same seven single-member election districts as are members of the governing body of the county. The 1997 nonpartisan election shall be held on the third Tuesday in January, 1997. After the 1997 election, members of the board shall thereafter be elected at nonpartisan elections to be conducted on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every two or four years thereafter as applicable beginning in 1999. Members of the board shall be elected for four-year terms and until their successors are elected and qualify, except that of the seven members elected in 1997, the four members elected with the largest number of votes shall serve for initial terms to expire in November, 2001, when their successors elected at the 2001 election qualify and take office, and the three members elected with the fewest number of votes shall serve for initial terms to expire in November, 1999, when their successors elected at the 1999 election qualify and take office. In the event of a vacancy on the board occurring for any reason other than expiration of a term, the board shall call a special election to fill the unexpired term, so long as the vacancy does not occur within one hundred eighty days of a regular trustee election. In this case, the vacancy must be filled for the unexpired term through appointment by the county legislative delegation. All members of the county board shall serve until their successors are elected and qualify.
Each member of the board must be elected by the qualified electors of the single-member district from which he seeks election. All persons desiring to qualify as a candidate shall file written notice of candidacy with the county election commission on forms furnished by the commission. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and must include the candidate's name, age, election district from which he resides and seeks election, voting precinct, period of residence in the county and election district, and other information as the county election commission requires. The filing period opens on the first day of November, 1996, at noon to run for two weeks for the 1997 election to expire at noon of the last day of the filing period and thereafter is as provided in Section 7-13-352 of the 1976 Code.
The county commissioners of election shall conduct and supervise the elections for members of the county board in the manner governed by the election laws of this State, mutatis mutandis. The commissioners shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts, and do all things necessary to carry out the elections, including the counting of ballots and declaring the results. The commission shall publish notices of the elections in the same manner provided in Section 7-13-35 of the 1976 Code. The results of the elections must be determined by the nonpartisan plurality method as contained in Section 5-15-61 of the 1976 Code.
The members of the board elected in these nonpartisan elections shall take office one week following certification of their election as provided in Section 59-19-315 of the 1976 Code. The Orangeburg County Board of Education is hereby abolished and all powers and duties of the county board of education are devolved upon the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission as established pursuant to this section.
There is established the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission to be composed of these five members who shall serve, ex officio: the Orangeburg County Treasurer, the Orangeburg County Auditor, and each chairman, of the board of trustees of the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Three, the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Four, and the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Five or a chairman's designee who must be a member of that chairman's board of trustees.
(B) The primary role of the county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission shall be is to equalize funding among the three consolidated districts in the manner provided by this act.
(C) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission shall have only those powers, duties, and functions as provided in this act and not as provided by the general law, all of the other powers, duties, and functions being reserved to the boards of the particular consolidated school districts.
(D) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission shall serve as a fiscal agent to distribute the countywide school millage levy for operating and debt service purposes to the three consolidated school districts of the county as provided in this act.
(E) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission also shall:
(1) serve as arbitrator in disputes concerning school district lines;
(2) receive a copy of each district's annual audit of its financial affairs; and
(3) adopt a budget for the operations of the county board which at no time may in dollar terms exceed the value of one-half mill; and
(4) prescribe a uniform salary schedule for all certified teachers to be effective beginning with school year 1997-98.
(F) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission, in consultation with the boards of the three consolidated school districts, shall review annually the impact of the formula established in Section 5 of this act and shall recommend revisions as necessary or shall develop a new formula to provide for the equalization of the districts' per pupil funding to within plus or minus five percent of the county average local and EFA revenue per pupil, taking into consideration any differences in local tax effort, within five years of the effective date of this act. The recommendations on the formula must be presented to the county legislative delegation no later than March 30 of each year.
(G) Funds remaining on this act's effective date previously under the control or use for the operation of the Orangeburg County Board of Education are transferred to the Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission and must be distributed among the three consolidated districts in the same proportion as funds are distributed to these districts in accordance with the average daily membership formula in accordance with Section 5(A) of this act."
Section 4. (A) The board of trustees of each consolidated school district, before July first of each year beginning in 1997, shall prepare a school district budget for the ensuing school year. Before September second of each year beginning in 1997, the board shall notify the county auditor and treasurer in writing of the, millage required for the operation of the schools in the district for the ensuing school year. The notice by the board constitutes authority for the levying and collection of the millage upon all of the real and personal property within the school district. The levy must be placed to the credit of the district and expended for the district. Beginning in 1997, a school district may raise its millage by not more than three mills over that levied for the previous year, adjusted in addition to any millage needed to adjust for the EFA inflation factor and sufficient to meet the requirements of Section 59-21-1030 of the 1976 Code; however, the millage increase above the EFA and EIA requirements must be approved by the county board. Any increase above this three mills for operations may be levied only after a majority of the registered electors of the district voting in a referendum, called by the county district school board and conducted by the county election commission, vote in favor of the millage increase. However, Consolidated District Four shall be permitted to adjust millage to compensate for the loss of Education Finance Act funding attributable to the assessed valuation of the Cope Electric Generating Station. The amount of decrease in the Education Finance Act funding resulting from the generating station must be certified by the State Department of Education. This millage adjustment shall occur only once and shall be limited to the millage needed to replace the Education Finance Act funds.
(B) Each consolidated board shall hold a public hearing prior to its final approval of the budget for the district. Notice of these public hearings must be placed in a newspaper of general circulation in the district at least fifteen days before the public hearing.
(C) For purposes of 1997 only, the millage levied for the previous year of a consolidated district must be derived by dividing the total revenue raised in 1996 from school tax millage by each of the former school districts of the county now a part of that consolidated district by the total 1996 assessed value of all taxable property of those former districts less thirty mills.
Section 5. (A) Beginning with the year 1997, a countywide school tax millage levy of twenty-five mills for operating purposes is hereby imposed and shall be distributed by the county board Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission to the consolidated school districts on the following formula:
Step 1. Determine the countywide wealth per student by dividing the total value of a countywide mill by the total average daily membership (ADM) of the three consolidated districts. The ADM will be determined by the prior year one hundred thirty-five day report for each district.
Step 2. Determine each district's wealth per student by dividing the total value of the district's mill by its ADM.
Step 3. Determine the variance of each district's wealth per student from the highest district's wealth per student.
Step 4. Equalize the wealth per student for the least wealthy district by multiplying that district's variance from the highest wealth per student by the district's ADM and multiplying by 25 mills; equalize the next least wealthy district by multiplying that district's variance from ninety-five percent of the highest wealth per student by the district's ADM and multiplying by 25 mills.
Step 5. The district with the lowest wealth per student is assigned one mill.
Step 6. Consolidated District Five will receive five mills for hold harmless purposes. These mills will be phased out by reducing the hold harmless mills by one each year beginning in 1998. The amount of hold harmless funds will be calculated by multiplying the value of a countywide mill times the number of hold harmless mills; less the district's equalized funds from the wealth per student calculation; plus the district share of the mill assigned to the district with the lowest wealth per student.
Step 7. The remaining funds from the countywide millage shall be divided equally among the three districts based on their percentage of the county's ADM.
(B) Beginning with the year 1997, a countywide school tax millage levy of five mills for capital improvements or debt service purposes is hereby imposed and shall be distributed by the county board Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission to the consolidated school districts on the following formula:
Step 1. Determine the countywide wealth per student by dividing the total value of a countywide mill by the total average daily membership (ADM) of the three consolidated districts. The ADM will be determined by the prior year one hundred thirty-five day report for each district.
Step 2. Determine each district's wealth per student by dividing the total value of the district's mill by its ADM.
Step 3. Determine the variance of each district's wealth per student from the highest district's wealth per student.
Step 4. Equalize the wealth per student for the least wealthy district by multiplying that district's variance from the highest wealth per student by the district's ADM and multiplying by 25 5 mills; equalize the next least wealthy district by multiplying that district's variance from ninety-five percent of the highest wealth per student by the district's ADM and multiplying by 25 5 mills.
Step 5. The district with the lowest wealth per student is assigned one mill.
Step 6. The remaining funds from the countywide millage shall be divided equally among the three districts based on their percentage of the county's ADM.
(C) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission shall make the determinations and allocations required by the formula established in this section.
(D) The county board of education Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission, before July first of each year beginning in 1998, shall determine whether the countywide tax millage levy of twenty-five mills is sufficient to meet the five-year phase-in of equalization of funding. Before September second of each year, the board commission shall notify the county auditor and treasurer in writing of the increase in countywide millage required for the equalization of funding. The notice by the county board commission constitutes authority for the levying and collection of the increase in countywide millage upon all the real and personal property within the county. Beginning in 1998, the county board commission may raise the countywide millage by no more than three mills over that levied for the previous year. This millage shall be added to the formula as the county board commission determines best contributes to the phase-in of equalization.
(E) The county board Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Fiscal Commission shall hold a public hearing prior to its final approval of any increase in the countywide millage. Notice of these public hearings must be placed in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least fifteen days before the public hearing.
(F) Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, if new construction and improvements are not exempted from any roll back millage requirement, the formula shall not be implemented until the millage can be adjusted to generate the projected revenue needed to fund the formula."
SECTION 2. Section 9 and 10 of Act 526 of 1996 are amended to read:
"Section 9. (A) The eight present school districts of Orangeburg County shall be abolished on July 1, 1997, at which time the consolidated school districts of the county as herein provided shall be established. The terms of all members of the boards of trustees of the eight present school districts of the county shall expire on this date. However, the members of the board of trustees of each consolidated school district elected at the 1997 nonpartisan election shall take office one week following certification of their election as provided in Section 59-19-315 of the 1976 Code. From this date and until July 1, 1997, the boards may organize, begin planning for the changeover to a consolidated district, enter into contracts to effectuate these purposes, and perform other related matters pertaining thereto, except that the responsibility and authority to manage the schools of the county rests solely with the individual boards for each of the eight present districts until July 1, 1997, and no consolidated board may do anything to interfere with this authority.
(B) Any member of one of the eight present school boards of the county may seek election to a consolidated school district board or to the county board of education in 1997. However, if they are elected to such office, prior to assuming the duties thereof, they must first resign as a member of their present board. In this event and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the vacancy on the present board they are vacating shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by appointment of the county legislative delegation.
(C) The members of the county board of education elected at the 1997 election shall take office one week following certification of their election as provided in Section 59-19-315 of the 1976 Code. From this date until July 1, 1997, the county board may organize, begin planning for the changeover to the new school system of the county, enter into contracts to effectuate these purposes, and perform other related matters thereto, except that the responsibility and authority to manage the schools of the county rests solely with the individual boards for each of the eight present districts until July 1, 1997, and the county board may do nothing to interfere with this authority.
Section 10. All local acts pertaining to any school district of Orangeburg County inconsistent with the provisions of this act are repealed as of July 1, 1997, it being the intent of the General Assembly to have this act and the general law be the only provisions of law governing the consolidated school districts of the county and the county board of education."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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