Budget talks turn to schools

Local delegation hears area school districts’ concerns on pending legislation

April 5, 2005

By TASHA STEIMER
Index-Journal staff writer

Greenwood’s school districts met with the local delegation Monday and acknowledged state lawmakers for their work on the upcoming budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
State Sen. John Drummond and state Reps. Ann Parks and Gene Pinson met with representatives from Districts 50, 51 and 52, as well as the Western Piedmont Education Consortium.
Gary Johnson, assistant superintendent for business in District 50, said the district will be “in the best shape it has been in for awhile” if the budget passes as it currently reads.
Although available funding shifted in and out from different sources, Johnson said the district was able to maintain a budget similar to this year’s.
The group also discussed the South Carolina Put Parents In Charge Act, which would provide certain tax credits to parents who placed their students in schools outside the local public district, such as private institutions or home schools.
The local delegation reiterated their stance against the bill, and encouraged local educators to be present at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia during the final public hearings for the legislation.
Pinson encouraged districts opposing the bill to send representatives to the hearings.
“Take some school members; take a bus with you,” he said. “(If it passes), it’ll affect everything.”
District representatives also mentioned several bills that would require the districts to implement certain mandates without financial assistance from the state – putting additional strain on already tight budgets.
District 51 Superintendent Fay Sprouse said she was concerned that districts would not have the funds to provide adequate staff and facilities to meet the requirements of the Students K-5 Health and Fitness Act of 2005.
“If the bill passes, we will need additional funding to implement it,” she said. “We can’t keep taking money from other programs for these mandates.”
The bill would require schools to increase the amount of time students receive physical education instruction while maintaining the same student-to-teacher ratios as other academic classes. The bill also sets nutritional standards, such as offering a wider range of choices on breakfast and lunch menus as well as developing a school health improvement plan and reporting student assessments on report cards.
Statewide, the bill would require $35 million from districts to implement, which does not include an additional 40 cents per meal to meet nutritional standards.
Greenwood District 50 figured it would need $1.2 million alone to implement just the physical program requirements of the plan.
Drummond said he agreed that increasing the amount of time students spend on physical education would be beneficial to students, but other guidelines in the bill would be difficult to implement on top of other academic standards.
Another unfunded mandate the districts said they would like the delegation to oppose is the Parental Responsibilities Act of 2005. That bill would require each district to adopt and enforce a student discipline policy. Policies would include legal action against parents for not responding to a district’s third request for a conference with educators, legal penalties for parents failure to enroll a child in school and revoking a students driver’s license if a student fails to meet certain expulsion requirements.

Opinion

Limiting government may require meat ax approach

April 5, 2005

Reducing the cost of government, whether it’s in Columbia or Washington, means simply reducing the size of the bureaucracy. That’s theoretically the case, anyway. Since government is mostly people in the first place, the big part of the cost of government is paying them.
Government is a service, not a manufacturing industry. At least, that’s what it should be. That’s so in spite of the huge amounts of paper work generated every day.
People object to losing their jobs, naturally. An essential part of big government is the effort spent on assuring not only that no jobs are lost, but that more jobs are created. At every layer of the bureaucracy those below are simply required to file more papers to higher levels and make fewer decisions at lower levels.

THOSE CLOSE TO A SITUATION should not be trusted to make decisions. They are, it is alleged by some “experts,” unable to see the “big picture,” regardless of how expert and experienced they may be.
Besides, if they are truly expert, they are probably sympathetic to the point of view of those they confront in the adversary relationship between the private and public sectors. Thus, the possibility of conflict of interest arises.
To protect the public from conflict of interest and decisions favorable to “special interests,” the bureaucracy demands decisions be referred to high levels to be made ….. thus, the bureaucracy grows ever so larger.
The bureaucratic system is nearly invulnerable to change. That’s been proven many times down through the ages, and government in this country is no different.

USUALLY, THEN, THERE IS only one thing that works in reducing the bureaucratic numbers. It’s the so-called “meat ax” approach. Use that method when cutting – no pun intended – the numbers of a department or agency. Cut a flat amount or percentage, then order the department or agency to report back on how it will absorb the cuts to assure that it is validity and not seniority or tenure that determines and controls what “positions” to be cut.
If there is another way to reduce the size of government and maintain what taxpayers can afford to pay, no one has come up with it so far.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Minnie Calwise Brown

Minnie Calwise Brown, of 825 E. Cambridge Ave., widow of Fred Brown, died Friday, April 1, 2005 in Greenwood.
A daughter of the late Miles and Rose Lee Hudgens Calwise, she was a retired dietician of Self Regional Medical Center and a member of Good Hope Baptist Church, Waterloo.
She was the last survivor of her immediate family.
Services are 1 p.m. Wednesday at Good Hope Baptist Church, Waterloo, conducted by the Rev. Guy Sullivan. Burial is in The Evening Star cemetery, Greenwood.
The family is at the home of a niece, Betty Wilson, 319 McKellar Drive.
Beasley Funeral Home, Laurens, is in charge.

Velma Adams Carter

Velma Loretta Adams Carter, 55, wife of Richard Carter, died Sunday, April 3, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Born in McCormick, she was a daughter of the late William “Boot” and Lorene Holloway Adams. She was a member of Mount Moriah Baptist Church, McCormick, and served on the church Usher Board. A 1968 graduate of Mims High School, she received a degree in criminal justice from Piedmont Technical College. She was a former teachers aide at McCormick Elementary School and Central Elementary and Brewer Middle schools in Greenwood.
Survivors include her husband of the home; two daughters, Velva Carter and Lorraine Carter, both of the home; two sisters, Mrs. Ozzie (Alfredia) Bryant of Lansing, Mich., and Mildred Price of Maryland.
The family is at the home, 806 Taggart Ave.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home, McCormick.

J.C. Cummings

DONALDS — J.C. Cummings, 84, widower of Hazel Cummings, of 1233 Drake Road, died Sunday, April 3, 2005 at his home.
The family is at the home.
Cox Funeral Home, Belton, is in charge.

Sammie Reynolds

Services for Deacon Sammie Reynolds, of 316 Possum Hollow Road, are 2 p.m. Wednesday at Morris Chapel Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Ricky V. Syndab, assisted by the Revs. Jonathan Greene, Dorann White and Thessa Smith. The body will be placed in the church at 1. Burial is in The Evening Star cemetery.
Pallbearers are nephews and grandsons.
Flower bearers are nieces and great-nieces.
Honorary escorts are church officers.
Visitation is 6-8 tonight at Robinson & Son Mortuary.
The family is at the home.
Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc. is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at robson@emeraldis.com

Alan Smith

ABBEVILLE, SC – Alan Wesley Smith, 57, resident of 89 Watts Rd., husband of Doris Simpson Smith died Sunday April 3, 2005 at Anderson Area Medical Center, Anderson, SC.
Born in Abbeville, SC he was a son of the late James Wesley and Betty Blanchett Smith.
He was a Detention Officer with the Abbeville County Sheriff’s Dept. He was also an active member of Rice Memorial Baptist Church.
Survivors are his wife, Doris Simpson Smith of the home; 2 daughters, Jerri Smith and Deanna Smith both of Abbeville, SC; 1 sister, Debra Hodges of Greenwood, SC; 2 brothers, Reese Smith and Brent Smith both of Abbeville and 2 grandsons; Michael Smith and Tyrese Smith.
Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday, April 6, 2005 from Rice Memorial Baptist Church at 3:00 PM with the Rev. Jimmy Tucker officiating. The burial will follow in Forest Lawn Memory Gardens in Abbeville.
The body is at The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home where the family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 PM Tuesday evening. The family is at the home 89 Watts Rd., Abbeville, SC.
Memorials may be made to Rice Memorial Baptist Church 1975 Hwy. 72 West, Greenwood, SC 29649.
THE CHANDLER-JACKSON FUNERALHOMEISINCHARGE OF ARRANGEMENTS.
PAID OBITUARY

James ‘Jim’ Woodson

James “Jim” Woodson, 85, of 140 Tranquil Road, widower of Mary Jordan Woodson, died Monday, April 4, 2005 at Self Regional Medical Center.
Services will be announced by Blyth Funeral Home.