Excuse the length, but I’ve been exploring various school funding issues as they relate to county budgets and this respone came back from Scotland county. This has been a problem for some time, but most folks simply aren’t aware that this situation exists.
Basically, [the Scotland county] school board does not ask for increases, because they don’t have to do so! Scotland County consolidated its schools around 1964 and the law passed by the State Legislature to consolidate our schools also had a Funding Part! Until Fiscal Yr. 2002-2003 Scotland County paid the School Board at the average current expense per pupil expenditures of the State of North Carolina based on certification by NC Dept. of Public Instruction most recent figures (usually at least year behind).
In FY 2002-2003 the amount of Current Expense Scotland County would have had to give the School Board was over $9 million. (The county only has 35,000 people) The Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education came to a compromise agreement for the BOE to receive the same as the previous year and begin with an amendment to the 1963 LAW thereafter. The amended law requires payment to the School Board based on current expense expenditures for school systems in low wealth counties. It is a very complicated formula. For FY 2004-2005 Scotland County will give the School Board over $9 million.
Scotland County has lost several major industries (Abbott Labs for one) in the past several years. Our unemployment rate for Jan. was third in the state at 12.3%. We normally have a tax rate in the top three of all counties (FY 03-04 the BOC levied a tax rate of $.99 which means FY 04-05 will jump up considerably).
Scary enough?
