CCSD Needs Perp Walks to Gain Credibility for Raising Taxes

The party's over in the Charleston County School District. The rest of us are left to pay for it. Thus, Monday the CCSD School Board voted to raise taxes. Thanks to a very short-sighted state law, those in owner-occupied homes won't feel the pinch--just small businesses and renters. Duh.

The Board has hired a law firm to look into possible criminal charges against the perpetrators of the district's $18 million shortfall. While most likely most of that waste was out of stupidity, we can hope that someone pays--if not with money, at least with reputation. 

Board Chairwoman Cindy Bohn Coats told The Post and Courier that the school board has hired Winston-Salem-based law firm Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge, and Rice, LLP to review criminal implications and ethics violations stemming from the recent forensic audit of district payroll and benefits. That audit revealed a “lack of basic budgetary control” that predated the $18 million budget shortfall that the district discovered last fall. 

In an email, Coats noted that seven executive-level employees who held “critical fiscal responsibilities” during the years covered by the forensic audit will no longer be employed by the district after the 2015-16 school year.

Does that sound like retribution to you? Serve out the year getting full salaries? 

Will the district give them good recommendations as well? A golden handshake?