Growth pressures, school funding should be S.C. legislative priority, say regional leaders

While improving South Carolina’s roads and bridges and having a trained workforce will continue to be the top legislative priorities of the state’s Chamber of Commerce, local educators and business leaders made their case Friday for more financial aid to schools, particularly in rapidly growing counties.

School district officials in Fort Mill and Lancaster County say they need more money to operate the schools because of growth. Without an increase in operating funds, there would likely be more students in the classroom and educational quality could be affected, said Chuck Epps, Fort Mill’s superintendent of schools.

Epps’ comments came during a “grassroots” session sponsored by the chambers of commerce in York, Chester and Lancaster counties. The purpose of the meeting, held at the Fort Mill Golf Club, was to listen to local wants and forward them to the state chamber of commerce.

Friday’s meeting, attended by about 75 people, was one in a series being held throughout the state.

Patrick White, chairman of the Fort Mill school board, said the S.C. Legislature needs to make permanent a one-year exemption for schools paying impact fees. The Fort Mill Town Council recently passed a series of impact fees to deal with the costs associated with growth.

“We don’t have an (budget) impact, we are just reacting to housing,” White said.

The question of how to improve the state’s roads and bridges was extensively discussed. A committee, headed by state Rep. Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill, proposed a plan to manage the more than 41,000 miles of roads, restructure the state’s Department of Transportation and to expand accessibility to the state’s road-funding bank.

The plan, passed the S.C. House, was not debated by the Senate; however, it is at the top of the legislative calendar for the next session.

Jim Heckle, president and chief executive officer of the York County Natural Gas Authority, said people could support increasing the state’s gasoline tax if the money went directly to repairing roads and bridges.

Other items discussed were whether the Legislature should repeal requirements for a certificate of need to build hospitals and other major medical facilities, and scrutiny over efforts to legalize medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana needs to have Federal Drug Administration approval and should be regulated by prescription, said Bob Norwood of York County All On Board, which works to reduce substance abuse among youths.

Approval of medical marijuana would be the first step in the marijuana’s industry’s effort to legalize the drug in South Carolina, Norwood said. “We cannot afford to make the mistakes other states have made,” he said.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Growth pressures, school funding should be S.C. legislative priority, say regional leaders."