The Opinion Blog

Cracking Open the School Books

Friday’s editorial applauds a new state law that requires schools to post their spending online.

Following an emerging and highly laudable trend, the Grand Strand has seen a number of its local governments begin regularly posting their spending records online for anyone to see: first Myrtle Beach, followed quickly by Surfside Beach, and most recently the city of Georgetown.

Soon, thanks to a litlte-noticed but likewise commendable new provision in state law, they will be joined by some of the area's largest governing bodies: local school boards.

Patriotism or Partisanship?

Friday's editorial suggests that right-wing strategists let legitimate concerns about health reform go to their head and thus overreached politically with their ill-advised furor to the president's speech to students.

Last week, President Obama announced that he would be giving a speech to schoolchildren encouraging them to stay in school.

So, in an stunningly equal-but-opposite response, his most ardent detractors immediately proclaimed their intent to pull their kids out.

Transparency Is Credential of its Own

Wednesday's editorial urges Gov. Mark Sanford to respect the process by which the Horry County School Board chose an interim board member:

Nearly drowned beneath the din over how long our governor will actually remain our governor this past weekend was a significant issue of local interest: the question of who will succeed ousted Horry County school board member Chris Shannon.

Hard times cut cities' services, too

Wednesday's editorial examines how the falloff in tax revenue will affect local governmental services.

As local governments along the Grand Strand tighten their budgetary belts, reduce overall spending and hold the line on taxes, residents should brace themselves for cuts in services.

Connect program working

Wednesday's lead editorial praises an initiative in Horry County Schools to rescue troubled students.

Ninety of the 2009 high school graduates of Horry County Schools were about to become dropouts three years ago.

Instead, they became part of the district's Connect program. Most left their base high schools - where they were at least a year behind - and began intensive work at one of the district's two academies.

Tax cut math could get fuzzy

Thursday's editorial praises the recent property-tax swaps by the Horry County school board, but also praises one board member for arguing the reductions may not have not gone far enough.

Last week - fending off its own declining tax revenues and dire news from the state - the Horry County school board narrowly voted to shift a number of local funding sources that will have the net results of, first, keeping part of a promise made during last year's school sales-tax pitch and, second, lowering the school's property-tax rates on owner-occupied homes by about 29 percent.

On the surface, the maneuver sounds like and is a good deal for taxpayers. But school board member Joe DeFeo, leading the opposing faction in the 5-4 vote on the budget, doesn't want you to call it a tax decrease.

Well, OK, Joe - a tax decrease it isn't. But it's not exactly a tax increase, either. And the process has so many moving parts that it is tempting to call it, as DeFeo does, a shell game. But we don't believe it's that, either.

Tax 'reform' ate dozens of Horry teachers' jobs

Today's editorial notes that parents share complcity in the teacher job losses plaguing the Horry County Schools:

Horry County parents are upset - and rightly so - that 95 teachers are among the 169 employees whose jobs the Board of Education eliminated this week. But parents who live full time in their own homes have limited standing to vent their frustration to school board members.

Horry voters wisely approve school sales tax

Today's editorial cheers local voters' overwhelming approval Tuesday of the alternative taxation plan to pay for school buildings:

Demonstrating once again their distaste for property taxes and their taste for top-notch school buildings, Horry County voters approved their school board's 1 percent local-option sales tax on Tuesday.

In return, everyone who pays property taxes in the county - real and personal - will see a generous tax cut, though the full effect of that cut won't be felt until the end of 2010. Because the current tax year is nearly over, the near-term property-tax reduction will be slight. The county will begin collecting the new sales tax in January.

Trade sales-tax increase for property-tax cut

Today's editorial extols the best feature of the Horry County school board's local-option sales-tax proposal:

"All revenue received by the School District from the sales and use tax will be used to reduce property taxes needed to pay debt service on School District bonds and to directly pay costs of education capital improvements projects ... ." - from the sales tax ballot question

Here's the first thing Horry County voters need to know about the 1 percent 15-year local-option sales tax proposed by their school board on Monday: Everyone who owns taxable property in Horry County would see a substantial property-tax reduction.

A tax-swap plus school construction money

Here is the full text of the sales-tax ballot initiative approved Monday by the Horry County Board of Education:

EDUCATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SALES AND USE TAX ACT REFERENDUM FOR HORRY COUNTY

Must a special one percent sales and use tax be imposed in Horry County for not more than 15 years with the revenue of the tax used to pay, directly or indirectly, the cost of the following education capital improvement projects in Horry County: (1) 80% of the revenue of the tax shall be used for the following projects of the School District of Horry County: