• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Taxes Likely to Rise to Fund Fort Mill Schools Budget: Increase Would Be Fifth in 5 Years for Fast-Growing District

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 09:05 CDT

By The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

May 17--FORT MILL -- Taxes are likely going up again for residents in the Fort Mill school district.

The district is considering a tax increase in the budget for the next school year that would mean an additional $48 a year for a taxpayer with a home assessed at $200,000.

The $49.9 million proposed budget recommends the maximum tax increase allowed without voter approval and includes funding for 63 new positions, eight of which are instructors at Springfield Middle School, which opens this fall.

But even with a tax increase, officials are still searching for an additional $400,000 to cover expenses in the fast-growing district.

"This is a bare-bones budget," said schools Superintendent Keith Callicutt at the public hearing Monday night. "The focus is to put teachers in the classroom."

If approved, the tax increase would arrive just before the district is expected to ask taxpayers for a spring bond referendum to pay for a new elementary school.

This would be the fifth tax increase in as many years for the district. Since the 2003-2004 school year, there has been a 7 percent swing in school funding, which now places the majority of the financial responsibility on local sources instead of state sources.

At Monday's budget workshop, district officials asked a board room full of teachers, parents and principals to help brainstorm ways to supplement or cut district expenses to find that additional $400,000 to cover expenses.

Possibilities that officials will choose from include reducing positions or tapping into reserve money, among other possibilities.

The teachers and principals in attendance shot down the idea of reducing positions, saying it would defeat the funding of new positions in the budget.

District officials didn't like the idea of dipping into the $6.6 million reserve fund, either. Assistant Superintendent Karen Puthoff compared it to taking money out of one's savings account to pay the mortgage.

Classroom size regulated

One of the district's main goals is to maintain student-teacher ratios in spite of district growth, officials said, which helps explain why 84 percent of the proposed budget was for school personnel.

Despite more than 100 new families moving to the area per month on average, the district has managed to maintain an average 20:1 student-teacher ratio -- something officials say is key to maintaining high test scores.

The ongoing growth has led to two enrollment freezes at schools, as well as overcrowding elsewhere. It also caused some confusion Monday night.

Linda Locklier, principal at Orchard Park Elementary School, one of the schools with an enrollment freeze in effect next school year, had to correct a slide in the budget presentation.

"We've already registered 160 kindergartners for next year," Locklier said.

The slide reported 143 kindergartners for the school.

The board must approve a budget before July 1.

What do you think?

What do you think of the possibility of another tax increase in the Fort Mill school district? Is the district's proposed budget justified? Come to the heraldonline.com message boards and join the debate. Look for Heraldonline Community and click on "Talk Back."

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Herald

More News in this Category