COLUMN: Senators aim to accept stimulus funds

The Senate was in perfunctory session this past week, meaning that we did not go into session, but held subcommittee and committee meetings while the House of Representatives was on furlough for the past week.

Two very important issues moved forward from the Senate Finance Committee. The first was a concurrent resolution the Senate Finance chairman introduced and I co-sponsored. It states that the General Assembly would accept the use of federal stimulus funds as provided by The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 if the governor, within the required 45-day period, fails to certify he will request and use these funds for this state and the agencies and entities in the manner provided in the federal act.

This will now be on the Senate calendar and must be passed this week to meet the deadline.

The second important issue passing out of Finance was a joint resolution requested by Dr. Jim Rex on behalf of school district superintendents. This would allow school districts and special schools for fiscal years 2008-09 and 2009-10 the ability to transfer among state-appropriated revenues, excluding the $49.6 million of lottery appropriations for grades K-8 core curriculum.

It also would allow school districts to suspend the professional staffing ratios that govern the expenditure of specific program funding and allow an unrestricted use of the funds. It will permit the unrestricted use of the Children’s Education Endowment Fund, commonly known as Barnwell funding.

The resolution would give permission to extend by 30 days the issuance of the school district’s annual teacher employment contracts and appropriately delay the 10-day acceptance period of the teacher. Current law requires the issuance by April 15 and acceptance by April 25.

The measure also would give permission to negotiate the salary of a retired teacher below the requirement measured by the teacher’s educational level and years of experience for the school district’s instructional salary schedule.

If a school district includes salary reduction language in its annual teacher employment contract, furloughs to provide for the salary reduction may not exceed five days and must be on noninstructional days. District administrators are required to be included in a school district’s furlough on the basis of two days for each day a teacher is furloughed.

The measure encourages districts to maximize resources by expanding virtual instruction and developing schedules to minimize transportation costs of extracurricular and academic events. Public charter schools must be allocated the per-pupil program allocations that their student enrollments qualify for prior to a school district’s implementing the transfer of the specific program’s funds.

The committee recommended a strike-and-insert amendment intended to provide clarity for the implementation of the flexibility measures, struck the exclusion of the $49.6 million in lottery funds, excluded 4-year-old programs from the suspension of professional staffing ratios, and clarified that salary negotiations for retired teachers are specifically non-TERI participants and must be uniformly applied.

The resolution encourages a school district to maximize resources through limiting low-enrollment classes, reducing staff and board travel, reducing and limiting activities requiring dues and memberships, reducing transportation costs, and expanding virtual instruction. This too is a major item that needs to be passed this week in order for school districts to restructure their plans.

Unfortunately, we had some sad news from the Budget and Control Board, which gave key approval to a 2 percent cut to state agencies’ budgets, the latest in a bombardment that has slashed more than $1 billion from state appropriations.

These cuts have taken a toll on health care and education programs and have caused most agencies to lose one-fifth or more of their state budgets.

— McGill can be reached at his home address, 601 Longstreet St., Kingstree, SC 29556, or at his legislative office, P.O. Box 142, Columbia, SC 29202. Call him at (843) 355-7217 in Kingstree or (803) 212-6132 in Columbia, or e-mail him at .