S 856 Session 112 (1997-1998)
S 0856 General Bill, By Ford
A BILL TO CREATE THE CHARLESTON COUNTY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND TO
REPEAL ACT NO. 340 OF 1967, AS LAST AMENDED BY ACT NO. 139 OF 1969, SO AS TO
ABOLISH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF CHARLESTON COUNTY.
12/15/97 Senate Prefiled
12/15/97 Senate Placed on local and uncontested calendar
01/14/98 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-12
01/14/98 Senate Placed on local and uncontested calendar SJ-12
INTRODUCED
January 14, 1998
S. 856
Introduced by Senator Ford
L. Printed 1/14/98--S.
Read the first time January 14, 1998.
A BILL
TO CREATE THE CHARLESTON COUNTY CONSOLIDATED
SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND TO REPEAL ACT NO. 340 OF 1967,
AS LAST AMENDED BY ACT NO. 139 OF 1969, SO AS TO
ABOLISH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF CHARLESTON
COUNTY.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. The Charleston County School District is hereby
divided into seven separate school districts to be known as:
(A) North Charleston Area District 1;
(B) East Cooper District 2;
(C) Peninsula of Charleston District 3, from the Battery to
Pittsburg Avenue;
(D) West Ashley Area District 4;
(E) James Island Area District 5;
(F) Sea Island District 6, to include Johns Island, Wadmalaw
Island, Seabrook Island, Kiawah Island; and
(G) Sea Island District 7, to include Edisto Island, Yongues
Island, Adams Run, and Ravenel.
The school districts created by the provisions of this section shall
hereafter be collectively referred to as the Charleston County
Consolidated School Districts. The Charleston County Consolidated
School Districts are bodies politic and corporate as defined by law
and are vested with all of the powers, duties, and assets of the former
Charleston County School District.
The initial board of trustees for the respective school districts shall
consist of the members of the school board serving on the effective
date of this section. These initial board members shall continue to
serve until their successors are elected and qualify. The provisions
of this section take effect July 1, 1998.
SECTION 2. The governing body of each district shall be a
seven-member board whose members must be elected for terms of
four years each from defined single-member districts. Each person
elected to serve on the board of trustees of the respective Charleston
County Consolidated School Districts must be a qualified elector of
the district represented.
Upon expiration of the term of each member, his successor shall be
a qualified elector of the same district and shall be elected in the
general election preceding such expiration date by the qualified
electors of the entire county for a term of four years and until his
successor is elected and qualifies. In the event of a vacancy on the
board, due to causes other than expiration of term, the vacancy shall
be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by appointment by
the Governor upon recommendation of a majority of the Charleston
County Legislative Delegation.
SECTION 3. The initial members of the board of trustees shall
take office on July 1, 1998, and from that date through June 30, 2000,
shall exercise all of the powers, duties, and functions now devolved
by law upon the Charleston County School District Board of
Trustees. On and after July 1, 2000, they shall serve as the Board of
Trustees for the respective Charleston County Consolidated School
Districts created by this act. The members of the board of each
school district shall meet within ten days after their election and shall
organize by electing from their number a chairman and vice
chairman.
All meetings of the board shall be held in the office of the
Superintendent of Education for the School District of Charleston
County. The members of the board shall receive a per diem
allowance of ten dollars for meetings actually attended, not exceeding
twenty meetings in any calendar year and mileage at the rate of nine
cents per mile for each mile of travel from the place of his residence
to and from such meetings. A majority of the board members shall
constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting business. The
terms of office of the members of the Charleston County School
District shall be terminated on June 30, 1998.
SECTION 4. (A) The Superintendent of Education for each
district of Charleston County shall be appointed by the Board of
Trustees of the respective Charleston County Consolidated School
Districts for a term of four years. He shall be selected on the basis of
professional qualifications as an administrator and shall have had
experience in the administration of the affairs of schools. The first
Superintendent of Education for each of the respective Charleston
County School Districts appointed under the provisions of this act
shall serve as superintendent-elect beginning July 1, 1998, and shall
proceed with the plans and organization for the operation of the
Charleston County School Districts on July 1, 1998. Thereafter, the
Superintendent of Education for each of the respective Charleston
County School Districts shall be appointed in January to take office
on July first of the same year. The Superintendent of Education of
the respective Charleston County School Districts, in addition to the
duties imposed upon county superintendents of education by the
general laws of this State, shall perform such other duties as shall be
prescribed by the Board of Trustees of the Charleston County
Consolidated School Districts.
(B) The superintendents of the respective school districts of
Charleston County hired pursuant to the provisions of this section
shall hereafter be collectively referred to as the Charleston County
Board of Superintendents. In the course of fulfilling their duties and
responsibilities as prescribed for county superintendents of education
by the general laws of the State and the provisions of this act, the
members of the Charleston County Board of Superintendents shall
meet not less than weekly to discuss matters of concern to their
respective districts.
(C) All magnet schools, school transportation systems, and special
education systems of Charleston County shall be governed by the
Charleston County Board of Superintendents as a concerted
county-wide effort to provide these services.
SECTION 5. In addition to the duties, powers, and responsibilities
now provided by law for county boards of education, and for school
district trustees other than those devolved upon the trustees in
Sections 6 and 7 of this act, the Board of Trustees of the Charleston
County Consolidated School Districts shall:
(1) adopt and alter a corporate seal;
(2) adopt and publish administrative policies and procedures and
maintain a system of public relations which will keep the public fully
informed of the operation of the public schools;
(3) prescribe uniform employment procedures, position
qualifications, and a uniform salary schedule for all professional
personnel and establish and maintain a program of professional
personnel recruitment to enable all schools in the county to employ
fully-certified and capable employees;
(4) upon recommendation of the Superintendent of Education of
the Charleston County Consolidated School Districts, appoint such
number of assistant superintendents, resource personnel, and other
county-wide personnel as deemed necessary;
(5) provide programs of in-service education for professional
educational personnel in the county and promote the continuous
development of qualified public leadership for the county schools;
(6) borrow in anticipation of the collection of taxes, state aid or
federal aid. The borrowing shall be in the form of notes, maturing
not later than one year from the date of issue, bearing such rate of
interest as the board shall determine. The notes shall be payable,
both principal and interest, from the funds in anticipation of the
receipt of which they are issued, and to the payment of the principal
of and interest on the notes for which such funds shall be pledged;
(7) determine and evaluate the educational program in the schools
in the districts and provide a systematic program of curriculum
development and revision designed to provide maximum educational
opportunities for each child in the county;
(8) provide for physically and mentally handicapped children
educational programs organized and conducted in cooperation with
the social or civic organizations and agencies in the county or
community; provide for intellectually gifted children a program
which shall challenge their talents;
(9) keep an accurate record of board proceedings, which record
shall be kept in the office of the board and shall be open to public
inspection;
(10) authorize the purchase and sale of land, the planning and
construction of new school facilities, and the maintenance and repair
of existing buildings and grounds, and develop long-range planning
for physical facilities and the educational program in the county;
(11) adopt a system of budgetary controls and annually adopt a
budget, with power to revise when necessary, sufficient to meet the
educational needs of the district;
(12) provide for the disbursement of all county, state, and federal
educational funds received by the county or by any district in the
county;
(13) shall approve, and maintain a central purchasing system for the
purchase of all contractual services, equipment, and supplies and
purchase all equipment and supplies for the district;
(14) prescribe the forms of vouchers or pay warrants to be used in
said district; and
(15) cooperate with the County Council of Charleston in the annual
audit of the financial affairs of the districts and one copy of each
audit shall be kept in the office of the board, and one copy shall be
filed in the office of the Clerk of Court for Charleston County, to be
open to the public.
SECTION 6. The teachers and other district personnel necessary
for the efficient operation of the schools in each district shall be
employed by the trustees thereof, subject to the approval of the Board
of Trustees of the Charleston County Consolidated School Districts.
SECTION 7. The trustees in each of the districts shall have the
power in their respective districts, subject to the appeal to the Board
of Trustees of the Charleston County Consolidated School Districts
in the manner provided by law:
(1) to transfer any pupil from one school to another within the
same district so as to promote the best interest of education, and
determine the school within such district in which any pupil shall
enroll;
(2) to suspend or dismiss pupils when the best interest of the
schools makes such action necessary;
(3) to cooperate with the State Department of Public Safety in
enforcing safety rules and regulations applicable to school buses and
making provisions for school bus transportation within the area of a
district where such transportation has heretofore been in operation in
such areas; and
(4) to require all school buses operated under any transportation
contract to be covered by casualty liability insurance in an amount to
be fixed by the district trustees, the policies to be approved by said
trustees and filed in the office of the Superintendent of Education of
the Charleston County Consolidated School Districts.
The trustees in each of the districts shall keep an accurate record of
their proceedings, which record shall be kept in their office and shall
be open to public inspection, and they shall annually make
recommendations to the Board of Trustees of the Charleston County
Consolidated School Districts relative to the educational affairs of the
respective districts.
SECTION 8. No teacher or other professional employee shall be
transferred from one district to another without the approval of such
employee and the Board of Trustees of the Charleston County
Consolidated School Districts.
SECTION 9. The compensation and benefits of any person
employed in any district in the county whose employment is
continued after the effective date of this act in the same or an equal
position shall not be reduced.
SECTION 10. The Board of Trustees of the Charleston School
Districts shall prepare and submit to the Charleston County
Legislative Delegation, as information, on or before the fifteenth day
of August of each year beginning in 1998, a proposed budget for the
ensuing school year. In order to obtain funds for school purposes the
board is authorized to impose an annual tax levy, commencing in
1998, not to exceed forty-three mills, exclusive of any millage
imposed for bond debt service. Upon certification by the board to the
county auditor of the tax levy to be imposed, the auditor shall levy
and the county treasurer shall collect the millage so certified upon all
taxable property in the district.
SECTION 11. The Charleston County Consolidated School
Districts shall not assume any bonded indebtedness incurred prior to
July 1, 1998, by any of the present school district. The bonded debt
of the present school district incurred prior to July 1, 1998, shall
remain the obligations of the district after July 1, 1998, which shall
continue to be taxed accordingly.
SECTION 12. There is hereby levied upon all of the taxable
property in Charleston County for the calendar year 1998 a tax of two
mills on the dollar. The money derived from such levy shall be
placed by the county treasurer to the credit of the County Board of
Education and expended for school purposes in the county, including
expenses for organizing the districts.
SECTION 13. If any part of this act shall be held unconstitutional,
such unconstitutionality shall not affect the remainder of this act.
SECTION 14. Act No. 340 of 1967, as last amended by Act No.
139 of 1969, is hereby repealed.
SECTION 15. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
-----XX----- |