Horry and Georgetown County School Districts Receive Special-Ed Funding (SC)
June 30, 2011
The Horry and Georgetown county school districts are set to receive their cut of the state’s $75 million targeted for special education programs, but it is too early to know specifically how the funds will be spent in each district.
Funds are to be distributed today by the S.C. Department of Education, with Horry County Schools receiving a little over $2.5 million and almost $450,000 going to the Georgetown County School District.
Districts were notified of allocation amounts and which expenditures are allowed through a letter written Friday, and school officials said they have yet to make decisions on how those funds will be used.
Barbara Harrelson, executive director for exceptional/disabled students for Horry County Schools, said she didn’t have any immediate answers, as funding will have to be discussed by a committee of district officials.
She said that in addition to herself, the group probably will include directors from learning services (which special education falls under) and finance, as well as Cindy Ambrose, the district’s chief academic officer.
Questions about the funding were raised at the Georgeto wn County School Board meeting Tuesday, but Carole A. Sorrenti, the executive director for special services for Georgetown County School district, said she had little information to share.
“We’ve just learned about this and how much we would be getting in the last day or so,” she said, noting that she and finance director Lisa Johnson would be meeting soon to discuss the possibilities.
Board member Teresa Bennani asked if some of the funding could go to special education in pre-kindergarten programs.
“We have a lot of needs in special ed from pre-K all the way up,” Sorrenti responded.
Preschool special education programs are one of the places the funding can go, said Jay Ragley, the S.C. Department of Education’s deputy superintendent for legislative and public Affairs.
But Ragley said the bulk of the money will go towards K-12 special education classrooms.
“Most of this is going to classroom expenditures, special education teacher salaries and benefits, supplies,” he said.
He also stressed that districts should not use this money to create new programs.
“It’s to maintain what they already have in place,” he said, noting that they can pay outstanding bills or use it to fund the programs in the 2011-12 school year.
The money is being sent to districts from S.C. Education Superintendent Mick Zais to avoid losing $75 million in federal funding. The U.S. Education Department says South Carolina has not spent enough on special education in the past three years due to budget cuts and had threatened to withhold $111 million from the state as punishment.
The federal agency says it will forgive the shortfall for this school year if Zais acts quickly. That leaves a $36 million punishment.
The money being distributed comes from better-than-expected collections in s tate sales tax and lower-than-expected prices for bus fuel.