Simplifying how it funds schools and eliminating some sales tax exemptions could pump more than $1 billion into South Carolina’s schools and roads, a Summerville lawmaker said Wednesday.
Unveiling her plan at a news conference, Rep. Jenny Horne, R-Summerville, said the state’s formula for funding schools is overly complex and often shortchanges poor, rural school districts. Horne hopes her plan can gain support in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s recent Abbeville decision.
“The goal of the bill is to simplify funding and put the control in the hands of the school boards and school districts,” Horne said. “It’s the first filed bill that I know of addressing the Abbeville decision.”
The Supreme Court’s November Abbeville decision stems from a 1993 lawsuit when roughly half of the state’s school districts, including Berkeley County, sued the state, saying the Legislature had failed to adequately fund the state’s poor, rural school districts. The Supreme Court sided with the schools and put the onus on the Legislature to find solutions.
Gov. Nikki Haley has proposed raising the average amount spent on students, among other education proposals. House Speaker Jay Lucas has also convened a task force to study the issue and report back the Legislature next year.
Horne’s proposal, called the South Carolina Jobs, Education and Tax Act of 2015, would provide what amounts to a statewide property tax cut in most places on businesses and automobile sales by making property tax rates uniform across the state. To make up for the loss of about $600 million in tax revenues, Horne is proposing eliminating a number of sales tax exemptions that could amount to $2 billion in additional revenue for the state.
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South Carolina Association of Taxpayers 