WINNSBORO – When the Fairfield County School District’s Education Foundation launched a teacher housing project a couple of years ago, they did so with the understanding that the foundation would be allowed to use some of the state’s Rural Retention Funds to supplement the rental fees for the teacher housing.
That didn’t work out. However, the District’s Education Foundation Chair Sue Rex, who heads up the fundraising for the teacher housing project, is hopeful that a fortuitous meeting between herself and State Superintendent Ellen Weaver at a recent ribbon cutting, could lead to a possible solution of the Foundation’s funding gap.
During the ribbon cutting, Rex invited Weaver out to tour the teacher housing. On Friday, Weaver came to meet with Rex and Fairfield School Superintendent Dr. Tony Hemingway for a tour and an almost two-hour conversation about the work in Fairfield schools and other schools around the state.
“The Foundation learned last year that the legislature is not going to continue to allow the rural retention funds to be used for rental reduction for the teacher housing,” Hemingway said. He said that could cause a burden on young teachers who aren’t yet earning enough to pay high rents.
“Right now, our teachers are paying $700 rent for a one-bedroom home and $900 for two bedrooms,” Rex said. “We’ve already told our teacher residents that we will have to raise their rent at the end of the first year’s contract. We don’t know yet just how much that increase will be.”
During Weaver’s conversation on Friday with Hemingway about school initiatives around the state, she also asked Rex about the teacher housing project.
Rex said she explained the foundation’s dire circumstances regarding the need for rent reduction.
“I think the teacher retention money perfectly fits the need for rent reduction for teacher housing,” Rex said. “Other school districts are now looking at initiating teacher housing projects and they’re going to run into the same problem that we have if the legislature doesn’t allow the rural retention funding to be used for teacher rent reduction.
“While it’s the legislature’s decision, I did appeal to Superintendent Weaver to consider our plight and to perhaps allow some sort of funding to go toward the rent reduction.”
Weaver said that she was impressed with the housing project.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to see how Fairfield is investing in recruiting and retaining the best educators in South Carolina,” Weaver told The Voice. “It’s wonderful to see this kind of initiative happening in one of our rural communities. And I’m very excited to see what the future holds for this teacher village.”
Rex said currently 16 homes are occupied. All but two of the teacher residents have already been teaching in Fairfield schools. Another home is the TruVista technology center, and nine more homes are planned for a total of 25 homes.
Hemingway says that Rex is on the hunt for more donations, funding, and grants in case the rural retention funding isn’t reinstated.
“Several companies have generously donated funds to the housing project, including TruVista and United Way,” Hemingway said. “The Foundation is just trying to see what other donors are out there, what grants are available. We will still receive some rural retention funding that we can use to recruit international teachers to the District. We’re just excited about the opportunity to be able to recruit and retain high quality teachers,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the growth of the project, so that we can provide an environment where teachers thrive and feel supported.”