LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Florence School District 1 Board gets praise for fiscal policies

Dear Editor:

I write to recognize and applaud the efforts and dedication of the Florence School District One Board of Trustees and Superintendent Larry Jackson. In the past 10 years, our schools have seen a population increase of more than 2,200 students, yet not a single new facility. Rather, the district has been forced to teach our students in mobile units.

We all know about the Corridor of Shame that has become synonymous with schools along I-95 and the Dillon Public School System; however, what we in Florence fail to realize is the reality of our own corridor of shame.

The average age of our schools is 41 years, with seven of those facilities being more than 50 years of age. The school maintenance department functions as best it can, but when a ceiling caved in and the district was forced to pay $400,000 to repair it, as was the case in 2006, not much could have been done by the maintenance department.

Because of a very low debt load maintained by Florence 1 schools, the ability exists to pay for the schools as they are built. This approach equates to a real property tax increase of $52 for a homeowner with a $100,000 home, and it alleviates the need for general obligation bonds which would cost the taxpayers $100,000,000 more in interest than the pay-as-you-go approach recently considered by the board.

It is our responsibility as a community to ensure the integrity of the infrastructure for our public schools which will then cause economic prosperity. No longer should our children have to eat lunch at 10 a.m. because of overcrowded and inadequate facilities as they do at Delmae Elementary School. No longer should our children be forced to learn in facilities that are unsafe and not conducive to their educational needs. No longer should our hard working educators be forced to work in an environment that is inferior to the environments in which we work.

Because the Florence 1 Board’s request from the taxpayer is nominal, and because our board has a history of fiscal responsibility, not only do I approve of the plan for facility upgrades, but I also applaud the board for finding a way to provide funding for these improvements. I hope the rest of the community will support this effort which will benefit the 15,856 children in our schools.

Ed Love
Florence School District 1 Parent
Florence