County Council reacted Monday night to a recent Fairfield County School Board meeting where a presentation was given by Scott Price, an attorney for the S.C. School Board Association and William Halligan of Childs and Halligan, P.A. on a proposed South Carolina Education Finance Restructuring Act.
The act, which proponents plan to bring to the state legislature in January, would equalize state funding for all students, no matter where they live in South Carolina.
Council members Ferguson, Kamau Marcharia and Kinley attended the school board meeting, and were opposed to the proposal.
“The School Board Association hired Fairfield County School District’s attorney Ken Childs to come up with a plan with the help of 16 school board members across the state, not including our own, to take tax money from V.C. Summer nuclear plant,” Ferguson said. “Why didn’t this happen with BMW, Michelin or Boeing? The school board was told they wouldn’t have to go by the County’s millage anymore.”
“It was a two year study paid for by the S.C. Senate and prompted by representatives in Aiken,” Ferguson continued. “No contact was made during this study with the S.C. Association of Counties. I was disappointed that our senator didn’t mention that this study was going on. If money was expended for over a period of two years — that our delegation didn’t know this was going on — expenditures are supposed to be seen by every senator in the state.”
“I would like to talk to Senator Coleman,” Council member Dwayne Perry said, “to see what he thinks about taking the power plant money out of Fairfield County. What is his stance?”
“They think they can come and hire a bunch of high paid lawyers and run ripsaw over us,” said Brown. “They couldn’t go to an Aiken or Charleston County and try to do this.”
“Let the people who decided not to have nuclear reactors in their county decide how they will get money,” Ferguson said. “People are going to come at us and do their dead level best to get our tax money.”