Scotland commissioners seek to repeal school funding law

LAURINBURG — In 5-1 vote, the Scotland County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday requesting state lawmakers repeal the “school floor” tax.

The school floor came into play in 1963 when the General Assembly and the governor enacted a law that dictated a formula to which the county government adheres in deciding how much is spent on local schools. The law came at a time with the Scotland County and Laurinburg City school districts were merging during integration.

Commissioners Tim Ivey, Bo Frizzell, Tanya Edge, Jeff Shelley and Ed O’Neal voted in favor of the resolution. Commissioner Darwin Williams was the sole nay vote. Commissioner Clarence McPhatter II was not present for the vote.

“It’s going to appear that we’re attacking our school system which we all know is not the case,” Williams said prior to casting his dissenting vote.

Williams said the county needed to come up with more “unique ways of improving our tax base.”

“I think it’s important that we let our citizens know we’re not going resolve our tax issues on the backs of our kids, our future leaders,” Williams said.

He said he was a product of the school floor.

“I’m one of those kids who came through this system,” Williams said.

Ivey wanted the public to know that the action taken Monday by the commissioner was just a request.

“In all reality, it doesn’t do anything other than ask the state legislatures to look into passing the repeal of the law … We can not do that,” Ivey said.

To repeal the legislation, the matter would need to be introduced by lawmakers Rep. Garland Pierce and/or Sen. Danny Britt.

To clarify an assumption made during the board meeting, Rep. Pierce told The Laurinburg Exchange that he had not stated that he was for the repeal.

“It has come to my attention that during the course of Monday night’s Scotland County Board of Commissioners meeting, it may have been stated or implied that I have taken a position on the Scotland County ‘school floor’ funding formula,” Pierce said. “While I am open to conversations with local officials, my current position is that the school floor funding formula should remain for the time being.”

Pierce said lowering the local tax burden has become a high priority for many local officials this year, including himself.

“There is no question that we have a duty to act swiftly to reduce the skyrocketing cost of living across the state and nation,” Pierce said. “However, my very first priority is maintaining and increasing the quality of education for our youth in Scotland County. Teachers and school personnel are already underpaid and overworked.

“If a sweeping, sudden policy change runs even the risk of taking away crucial revenue that has been available since the 1960s for our local school district, it also risks taking away crucial support from our teachers and school personnel. Since an alternative proposal has not yet been agreed upon, at this time we cannot know how the removal of the school floor might adversely affect our schools. Therefore, while I am open to conversation, any suggestion that I am in favor of removing Scotland’s school floor funding formula at this time is not correct. If I am shown a proposal that continues to adequately fund the needs of our schools, I am happy to review it. The education of our children must come first. I invite any constituents or officials to reach out to my office with any concerns or suggestions related to the future of Scotland County Schools.”

In 2015, the county appropriated $10.8 million. The following year the number dipped to $10.5 million and then to $10.3 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year. Since 2019, the appropriation has stayed around $10 million save for 2021, when the appropriation dipped to $9.8 million, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scotland County is 98th in the state in the study’s tax-base rankings and 97th for the ability to pay for education, according to information obtained by the Border Belt Independent. But it is No. 50 for base spending, allocating $1,924 per student before the low-wealth supplement, according to the report. And it’s No. 1 for “funding effort,” which compares base spending to local revenue.

Ivey said the intent behind the repeal is to place Scotland County on an even playing field with other counties.

“It’s going to put us on the same playing field with the other 99 counties in the state that get to sit down and have a true conversation with the school board and say here’s what we can do,” Ivey said.

Ivey said the funding formula is complex and no longer in use with the school district agreeing to other amounts in previous years.

” I’ll pay you quite dearly if you can sit down and figure out what the formula is,” Ivey said. “We know what it is. The problem is we need the right numbers to put into that formula to make it come out the way that it should be … You move one number wrong and it just calculates this thing all kind of ways.”

Scotland County has the highest tax rate in the state and is ranked a Tier 1 county by the NC Department of Commerce. The 40 most economically distressed counties are designated as Tier 1, the next 40 as Tier 2 and the 20 least distressed as Tier 3.

“It’s not going to be some instantaneous lowering of taxes … I just don’t want people to have an expectation that something dramatic is going to happen overnight or within the next year because this is got to go through the legislative process in Raleigh. That may take six months. That may take a year and a half. I don’t know,” Ivey said.

Commissioner Shelley, one of the three Republicans who joined the board this year resulting in a conservative majority, said that he ran his campaign on the repealing of the school floor law.

“This has been an anchor on this county for a while and it would have been done away with in the 90s if we had a senator to take it to the state floor … I don’t see where this is going to jeopardize students cause they’re going to get their money,” Shelley said.

Shelly said repealing the law would “bring to light some salaries that we’re no privy to and those salaries are coming from taxpayers money.”

“To me, it’s one of those antiquated laws that’s being applied that we need to just do away with because it’s not functional. It’s not helping us answer the question, ‘How much money should we give the school system,’” Commissioner O’Neal added.

The Liaison Committee from the Board of County Commissioners will meet with the Schools Districts Liaison Committee at 5 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the A.B. Gibson Center to discuss funding for the 2025-26 budget year.