Repair – Renovate - Renew New Elementary Schools – It is time for a reevaluation of the district’s schools and what will best suit this community. The district will be reassessing the current number of schools against the current population/student enrollment decline. New Middle Schools – In 2019, the district merged Granard Middle School into Gaffney Middle School and Ewing Middle School. This was intended to be a short-term resolution to the operating state of Granard Middle School. Blacksburg Middle School, Gaffney Middle School, and Ewing Middle School are all outdated and inadequate for today’s learning standards. All three continue to be a strain on our operating budget. Where it makes more sense to renovate versus building a new building, we will be considering the ages of facilities, current enrollment, and educational and academic needs for all of our students.

What is Proposed?

Why a Bond Referendum?

Why Now?

What is the Plan?

Support Students First The Cherokee County School District Board of Trustees has approved moving forward with a building bond referendum for the upcoming election year. This bond will allow the district to reevaluate, reconfigure, and reposition our current facilities by building new schools, focusing district and county funding into educating our students, and providing adequate learning environments. This referendum will also continue where the penny sales tax referendum left off, all in an effort to combat the continual mounting costs of operating 50+ year old buildings.

Community Support Is Needed Now More Than Ever Although federal legislation has focused attention on upgrading curriculum, teacher qualifications and testing standards, school districts continue to fall behind on modernizing schools. Many school districts are hard-pressed to fund needed upgrades, so they postpone major changes as long as possible. Rapid changes in technology, new government mandated programs, and inadequate conditions are making delays increasingly detrimental. State and federally mandated programs, usually unfunded or under-funded, have become a significant funding challenge for our schools. School districts rely on county funding to operate!

It Is Long Overdue and Fiscally Unmanageable Strong Schools – Strong Community. Cherokee County and Cherokee County School District are at a crossroad, particularly with education and how the school district is impacting the community; specifically, the quality of life and community growth. School districts help sustain a community and are helpful indicators of economic growth. The current state of the Cherokee County School District is not that of a district that is thriving academically or financially. With respect to operating costs and funding, the district has reached a point where the facility operating costs and repairs are causing the district to spend more on the buildings that house our students versus educating our students. With respect to teachers, school facilities affect recruitment, retention, commitment, and effort. With respect to students, school facilities affect health, behavior, engagement, learning, and achievement. Facility quality is an important predictor of teacher retention and student learning.

Referendum Fast Facts

Cherokee CountySCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENDUM

SCHOOL BUS

How is school funding established and why is local millage so important?

School funding is a blend of federal, state, and local dollars. Local funding largely comes from property taxes, designed to ensure adequate funding across schools—funding formulas distribute revenue to districts based on a variety of factors.

What is Millage?

Millage is the tax rate, as for property, assessed in mills per dollar. Millage rates are established for current operations (general fund) and debt service. Local funds are used to satisfy the local effort requirements of the EFA, to provide supplements to state and federal funds, and to provide school facilities or to offer special initiatives or services with costs beyond the constitutional debt limit.

What is Act 388?

In 2006, the legislature passed Act 388. The major points of Act 388 are: o Removes tax for operations on owner occupied homeso Caps the increase in property valueso Eliminates 4% property from the tax baseo Adds additional penny sales taxo Increases Tier III reimbursements (Tier I & Tier II remain constant)o Caps annual millage increaseo Allocated $2.5 million to poor countieso Shifts relative tax burden to businesses

Where are we in Cherokee County School District?

Operational Millage - 176.5 to fund General Fund programs to include teacher raises and operating expenditures of the district. This includes items like technology, building maintenance, and increased utility expenses on less occupied aging structures, etc. This has no impact on homeowner occupied properties.

Debt Service - Cherokee County School District's debt service has not been increased in 12 years. These funds are used to provide items like technology, capital improvements, and renovations. They are also used to pay for other existing debt that is mostly short-term. Over the course of the last 12 years, the Cherokee County School District has consistently produced a balanced budget and have not raised millage to cover increased yearly costs. This was great for taxpayers, but it has had a negative effect on the district. The district has been cutting educational programs and basic class needs to provide a yearly balanced budget, consistently taking valuable educational tools out of the minds and hands of our students and providing less and less programs and learning opportunities.

What Are T

Population Decline – Enrollment Decline

Yearly Operating Costs

Tax Year 2019 School District MillageReport - Surrounding School Districts

2010

55,076

,335

2012

59,923,261

2014

64,152,229

2018

70,504,346

2020

77,937,094

2016

67,673,364

2010

8902 2012

8996

2014

8961

2018

8643

2020

8581

2016

8958

Spartanburg 4 111.00

York 4 105.00

Spartanburg 3 84.50

York 1 84.00

Spartanburg 1 74.00

Spartanburg 7 74.00

Lancaster 65.00

Kershaw 64.20

Greenwood 50 61.40

Spartanburg 2 55.00

Union 48.00

Cherokee County School District 29.80

How Did We Get Here? he Contributing Factors?