Note to SC Legislature: Pay Up for Sales-Tax Shortfall to School Districts?

Is he correct? Has the South Carolina legislature failed to follow its own laws?

I see yet another article in The Post and Courier blaming the financial problems of the school district on Act 388. Section 11-11-156 of the State Code was amended by Act 388. The pertinent subsection is: (A)(6) “To the extent revenues in the Homestead Exemption Fund are insufficient to pay all reimbursements to a school district required by subsection (A) and subsection (B) the difference must be paid from the state general fund.” 

Since the state has a surplus of about $1 billion this year the funds should be available to make up for any shortfall in the sales tax as required by the act. A more thorough discussion of the issue by a legal scholar is required to fully explain the total impact of Act 388, but it appears that the act makes allowances in the reimbursement to the school districts for the number of students in poverty, and for increases in school districts’ population and the consumer price index.

David C. Cannon
Point Street