South Carolina General Assembly
110th Session, 1993-1994

Bill 4148


Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


                    Current Status

Introducing Body:               House
Bill Number:                    4148
Primary Sponsor:                McKay
Committee Number:               00
Type of Legislation:            GB
Subject:                        Florence County school
                                districts
Residing Body:                  House
Computer Document Number:       CYY/15508SD.93
Introduced Date:                19930428
Last History Body:              House
Last History Date:              19930504
Last History Type:              Referred to Florence
                                Delegation
Scope of Legislation:           Statewide
All Sponsors:                   McKay
                                Hines
Type of Legislation:            General Bill



History


Bill  Body    Date          Action Description              CMN  Leg Involved
____  ______  ____________  ______________________________  ___  ____________

4148  House   19930504      Referred to Florence                 00
                            Delegation
4148  House   19930504      Reconsidered vote whereby
                            given unanimous consent to
                            receive third reading
4148  House   19930429      Read second time, unanimous
                            consent for third reading on
                            next Legislative day
4148  House   19930428      Introduced, read first time,
                            placed on Calendar without
                            reference

View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

INTRODUCED

April 28, 1993

H. 4148

Introduced by REPS. McKay and Hines

L. Printed 4/28/93--H.

Read the first time April 28, 1993.

A BILL

TO ESTABLISH ALL OF THE AREA OF FLORENCE COUNTY AS THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF FLORENCE COUNTY EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 1995; TO CREATE A BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF FLORENCE COUNTY AND PROVIDE FOR ITS MEMBERSHIP, DUTIES, FUNCTIONS, PROCEDURES, AND ORGANIZATION; TO VEST TITLE TO ALL PROPERTY USED FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES IN FLORENCE COUNTY IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF FLORENCE COUNTY; TO PROVIDE FOR THE FUNDING OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF FLORENCE COUNTY, FOR ITS ANNUAL BUDGET, AND FOR AN ANNUAL AD VALOREM TAX FOR THE SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY; TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND FOR THE ASSUMPTION OF EXISTING SCHOOL BONDS BY THE DISTRICT; AND TO REPEAL THE PRESENT FIVE SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF THE COUNTY AND THEIR BOARDS OF TRUSTEES ON JANUARY 1, 1995, AND DEVOLVE THEIR DUTIES, FUNCTIONS, POWERS, ASSETS, AND LIABILITIES UPON THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF FLORENCE COUNTY.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. It is the intent of the General Assembly in enacting this legislation to include in one act to the extent possible all the specific provisions of law, other than the general law, that relate to the School District of Florence County.

SECTION 2. The General Assembly prescribes that the entire area of Florence County is constituted into a single school district. Hence, there is hereby created the School District of Florence County, which is coextensive in area with Florence County.

SECTION 3. The governing body of the school district of Florence County must be a board to be known as the Board of Trustees of the Florence County School District. The board shall consist of nine members who must be elected in nonpartisan elections beginning in 1994 in the manner specified in this act from the same single-member election districts as are members of the Florence County Council.

SECTION 4. The nine members of the Board of Trustees of the Florence County School District must be elected in a nonpartisan election to be held at the same time as the 1994 general election for terms of office of four years each; provided, however, that of those first elected in 1994, the members elected from the even-numbered districts shall serve initial terms of two years each. Successors to these members must then be elected in a nonpartisan election to be held at the same time as the general election every two or four years thereafter for terms of office of four years each. All members of the board shall serve until their successors are elected and qualify. Those members so elected shall take office on the first day of January following their election. The results of the election must be determined in accordance with the nonpartisan plurality method prescribed by Section 5-15-61 of the 1976 Code.

Any vacancy occurring for any reason other than expiration of a term shall be filled by election of the board by majority vote until the next scheduled election at which time a successor must be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term or for a full term as the case may be.

SECTION 5. Members of the board elected from each of the single-member election districts must be residents of that district and must be elected by the qualified electors of the districts. All persons desiring to qualify as a candidate and be elected to the board from a specific district shall file written notice of their candidacy with the county election commission at least thirty days before the date set for the election but not earlier than sixty days prior to the election. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and shall include the candidate's name, age, voting precinct, single-member election district in which the candidate resides, period of residence in the election district, and that other information as the county election commission shall require.

The county commissioners of election shall conduct and supervise all elections for members of the board in the manner governed by the election laws of this State, mutatis mutandi. The commissioners shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts, and do all things necessary to carry out the elections, including the counting of ballots and declaring the results thereof. The commissioners shall advertise the date of the election sixty days preceding the election in a newspaper of general circulation published in Florence County and shall publish a second notice two weeks thereafter. The cost of the election must be borne by Florence County.

SECTION 6. The board shall hold regular monthly meetings upon the call of the chairman and shall hold special meetings at those other times as may be necessary, also upon call of the chairman or of three members. The board shall elect a chairman, vice-chairman, a secretary, and those other officers as it deems necessary, which officers shall hold office for a term of one year and until their successors are elected by the board. Members of the board shall receive a per diem allowance and a mileage expense for each meeting of the board at the same rate that members of state boards, commissions, and committees receive.

SECTION 7. Title to all property, real or personal, in Florence County, which is now used for school purposes, which has been acquired to be used for school purposes, or which may hereafter be acquired for school purposes, shall vest in the School District of Florence County, and the School District of Florence County is wholly responsible for the payment of any indebtedness heretofore incurred prior to the effective date of this act, by the several school districts of Florence County.

SECTION 8. The board shall have general management, control, and supervision of all phases of the public school program throughout the School District of Florence County. The board shall have complete charge of the expenditure of all school money.

SECTION 9. In addition to the powers conferred by Section 8, the board is empowered to:

(1) Adopt and alter a corporate seal.

(2) Exercise all powers now or hereafter vested by general law in the boards of trustees of the several school districts of the State.

(3) Employ that personnel as is necessary for the efficient operation of all of the schools in the district.

(4) Distribute all state and federal funds received by the school district.

(5) Adopt administrative policies and procedures.

(6) Purchase land, plan, and construct new buildings and keep existing buildings in good repair and usable condition.

(7) Borrow in anticipation of the collection of taxes, state aid, or federal aid. The borrowing must be in the form of notes, maturing not later than one year from the date of issue, bearing that rate or rates of interest as the board shall determine. These notes must 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 these notes these funds must be pledged.

(8) Borrow in anticipation of allotments from the state entities for construction of school buildings, and pledge as security for the loan the proceeds of the allotment, or allotments of the state entities. The borrowing must be in the form of notes maturing and bearing that rate or rates of interest as the board shall determine. The board shall have the right to pledge such other funds or expected income for the repayment of principal of or interest on the notes, as to it may appear to the best interest of the School District of Florence County.

(9) Exercise eminent domain. The procedure for exercising eminent domain may be any of those prescribed by law for public bodies or political subdivisions of the State.

(10) Determine and evaluate the educational program in the schools.

(11) Establish and maintain a central purchasing system for the purchase of all contractual services, equipment, and supplies. All equipment and supplies must be purchased by the board, or pursuant to policies adopted by the board.

(12) Establish and operate a comprehensive pupil transportation system throughout the school district. The board shall provide an efficient, businesslike, safe and adequate transportation system for the school children of the School District of Florence County, and operate it under those policies as it deems necessary to effect this function.

(13) Cause regular annual audits and, when necessary, special audits of all school funds in the School District of Florence County, including the funds of the administrative areas. One copy of each audit must be kept in the office of the board and another copy must be filed in the office of the clerk of court for Florence County, to be open to the public.

(14) Carry out a continuous school census.

(15) Keep an accurate record of board proceedings.

(16) Control the expenditure of all state and federal aid to the public schools within the School District.

(17) Adopt a system of budgetary controls, and annually, adopt, with power to revise when necessary, a budget sufficient to meet the educational needs of the school district.

(18) Prescribe policies to govern teachers' salaries in all the schools of the district, and, through the means of these policies, fix the salaries of all of the teachers of all of the schools of the district.

(19) Conduct surveys, and, upon the results being obtained, reorganize administrative areas, attendance areas, the curricula, the supervisory program, auxiliary services, and any other part of the educational program of the schools of the district.

(20) Regulate admission of pupils to the public schools of Florence County and designate the schools the various pupils, when and if admitted, shall attend, under those policies as it shall prescribe.

(21) Draw warrants upon school funds in the hands of the treasurer for the payment for services contracted for by the board, for the payment of insurance premiums, for teachers' retirement, for workmen's compensation premiums, for the payment of withholding taxes from salaries, and for all other purposes authorized by law.

(22) Equalize educational opportunity among the children of Florence County.

(23) Control and supervise the expenditures of all monies for capital outlay.

(24) Establish high schools and other schools in the district as may appear necessary or appropriate.

(25) Establish policies within the schools for the placement of pupils.

(26) Set up, in addition to the schools provided for in item (24) of this section, centers of instruction for vocational training, adult education, and other courses which cannot be offered in the individual schools of the county.

SECTION 10. The School District of Florence County is the unit for all financing and for receiving federal, state, and county school funds. The board is charged with the responsibility of apportioning, and distributing the funds to the several schools of the School District of Florence County on an equitable and fair basis. In administering school funds, the board shall have as its objective equalization of educational opportunity to all children within the school district.

SECTION 11. On or before the fifteenth day of April of each year the board shall file with the county auditor a budget for the operation of the district for the next fiscal year, together with the estimated millage requirement. The county auditor shall levy such millage upon all taxable property within the school district, and the county treasurer shall collect the taxes so levied and disburse the funds; provided, however, that if the budget submitted by the board requires a millage increase above four mills over the millage of the previous fiscal year, the increase is not effective unless approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the district in a special referendum to be held for this purpose on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May of that year. In the event the budget requires such an increase in millage, the board must publish a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county advertising the special referendum at least two weeks before the referendum with another notice required to be published at least one week before the referendum. The notice shall also state the amount of the increase proposed above the millage of the previous year and a vote must be taken on the increase. The ballot in these cases shall contain the following question and an explanatory statement thereof:

"Shall the millage for the School District of Florence County be increased by mills above that of the previous year as recommended by the board of school trustees?

Yes []

No []"

Only upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the electors voting in the special referendum on the question as certified by the Commissioners of Election for Florence County shall the county auditor levy the increased millage. In the event the voters fail to approve the millage increase by a majority vote of those voting in the referendum, the board may only levy an increase in millage over that of the previous year in an amount not exceeding four mills. The special referendum must be conducted by the County Election Commission in the same manner school board trustee elections are conducted, mutatis mutandi.

SECTION 12. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 11, for fiscal year 1995-96 only, the millage for school purposes in Florence County must be set by act of the General Assembly upon recommendation of the board.

SECTION 13. In the event of changes in the general state law with reference to schools, the board is deemed the proper body for administering within Florence County the programs as may be provided by the State.

SECTION 14. To obtain monies for capital outlays, the board is empowered, from time to time, to issue bonds of the School District of Florence County within the constitutional debt limit as may be applicable to the school district and in accordance with the general law of this State relating to the issuance of school bonds. Any school bonds previously issued by any of the several boards of trustees of the former school districts prior to the effective date of this act pursuant to law are hereby validated and confirmed as being lawful obligations of the School District of Florence County.

SECTION 15. On January 1, 1995, the five school districts of Florence County are repealed and the powers, duties, and functions of the districts as well as their governing boards of trustees are devolved upon the School District of Florence County and the board of trustees for the School District of Florence County as appropriate. The assets and liabilities of these five school districts are also transferred to the School District of Florence County on this date. In addition, on January 1, 1995, the terms of the then current members of the board of trustees of the five school districts of Florence County in existence as of that date shall expire.

SECTION 16. This act takes effect January 1, 1995, except that the members of the board of trustees of the Florence County School District must be elected in a nonpartisan election to be held at the same time as the 1994 general election in the manner provided by this act.

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