Monday, June 18, 2007
Special Purpose Districts and Schools – Question 5
Question for Matt S, Courtney T, and Erica W. Consider the following statement: school districts are the result of the failure to have a general law governing their creation. Explain what this means and why it creates problems in understanding the governance and structure of schools in South Carolina.
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4 comments:
South Carolina delivers local education services through school districts. School districts were not included in the home rule act in South Carolina; therefore, they have little uniformity. They are all diverse in character, meaning they are all different in the ways people are elected, fiscal authority, as well as the ways that they are operated. Some counties still use a county board of education in addition to their school districts. The statement could mean that we have this situation in South Carolina simply because all school districts don’t have general laws that establish a logical framework for government. When I was in school, I can remember that school districts surrounding mine did not have the same rules. This explains it all. This structure for school districts creates fragmented governance of schools here. This could also explain why certain schools in some areas of the state, have less funding, minimally qualified teachers and staff, as well as lower test scores. This is a problem for the entire community. There is heavy state oversight and federal mandates that constrain the ability of local school districts in many ways.
School districts are special purpose districts set up in South Carolina. These districts are governmental units that get their decision-making abilities from state legislation that are used at local levels of ordinary citizens (most who are elected, some appointed) to solve problems of mutual concern. In other words school districts carry out the function of the state government, but on a localized level. School districts had a hard time being uniformed, there was very little that they all did the same. From county to county in South Carolina, school districts vary. Some have control over the property tax rates while some do not. Others have elections in November and others have them in different months. There is no one set law in South Carolina established that sets the rules for school districts in South Carolina. Everything varies from each county and how they run their education schools. It creates a problem in the governance because when the state examines each school district they must remember that not all are created the same. There is no logical framework for government to work within because school districts are not in the general laws.
Matt Spivey
Both Matt S and Courtenay said it well. School districts, that sometimes do and sometimes do not correspond to county lines, are structurally a lot like the court system before it was reformed to create a unified court system. But schools are even worse, because we have a lot more districts than we have counties!
Later we will have a chapter devoted to education policy in the state and will revisit schools and how they are governed as well as other issues.
Bob B
There has been much ado about school districts. Trying to structure the districts for the schools has been a major problem, especially in South Carolina. Having different school districts means different rules and regulations for each district. Many parents are upset because of what district their child ends up in. There is a fine line drawn between those districts and many parents want to cross the lines or better yet, do away with the lines. It appears that the districts with higher incomes have better schools, better teachers, etc…. It is sad that not all school districts are created equally. What is worse is that the parents are pigeon held by districts.
Erica
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