News Summary
Greenwood School District 50 is grappling with a nearly $1 million reduction in State Aid for Classrooms for the fiscal year 2026 budget due to a new state funding formula. This formula redistributes resources among school districts and favors public charter schools, which are set to gain over $50 million. District officials are urging state lawmakers to reconsider the funding distribution to address financial challenges, especially in light of mandated salary increases for teachers and the end of federal COVID-relief funds.
Greenwood, South Carolina — Greenwood School District 50 is facing a significant financial challenge, reporting a reduction of nearly $1 million in State Aid for Classrooms for the fiscal year 2026 budget. This funding cut is a direct result of a new state funding formula that aims to redistribute state resources more evenly among various school districts across South Carolina.
Under the new distribution system adopted in 2023, the formula takes into account several variables that influence funding, including pre-career technology offerings, the number of students with disabilities, and the total count of physical schools within districts. As a consequence, while public charter schools are set to receive over $50 million in new funding, traditional public school districts, like Greenwood, will share a mere $61 million available to all others.
Currently, traditional public schools in South Carolina serve nearly 93% of the state’s student body, which forces them to divide the remaining funds substantially after charter school allocations. Greenwood School District 50 officials are actively appealing to state lawmakers as the House prepares to review the budget, urging them to reconsider the funding formula to address the upcoming financial shortfall.
Legislators have options available to provide additional funding, potentially prioritizing raises for teachers or modifying the distribution weight across different districts. During a recent school board workshop, Rodney Smith, the assistant superintendent for business, highlighted the district’s gradual funding decrease from a projected $46.7 million to just under $45.7 million.
The newly adopted funding formula operates differently than the previous Education Finance Act, focusing on student growth rather than metrics unique to each district. Traditional public school students receive a base weight of 1.0 under this model, while charter school students receive weights as high as 2.25 for in-person learning and 1.65 for virtual instruction. This policy means that charter schools, representing only 7.49% of the population, are allocated 45.33% of the new available funds for fiscal year 2026.
The assistant superintendent emphasized that this situation is not intended as a critique of charter schools but rather aims to shed light on the resource imbalance impacting traditional public districts. Furthermore, District 50 faces pressure from mandated salary increases for teachers; however, the new funding model does not provide adequate support to fulfill these raises. The end of previous federal emergency COVID-relief funds, which had helped the district enhance educational opportunities, adds to the financial constraints they are now facing.
As a measure to mitigate the funding shortfall, Greenwood School District 50 has proposed several short-term solutions to lawmakers. These include adequately funding teacher salaries, reevaluating the weighting for charter school students to provide more balanced resources, and enhancing transparency in the funding model. The district is striving to finalize its budget proposal while recognizing the shortfall as an inevitable challenge.
The school district recently approved a $94.7 million budget for the upcoming school year, which represents a 4% increase from the previous year without raising taxes. Teacher salaries within District 50 begin at $48,000, slightly above the average offered across many other districts. This budget plan also includes a $3.7 million allocation for Title 1 programs and $2.6 million designated for the G. Frank Russell Technology Center, marking a $218,000 increase in funding.
As Greenwood School District 50 navigates this challenging financial landscape, the community and local officials are hopeful that state lawmakers will prioritize the needs of traditional public schools in their upcoming budget decisions.
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Additional Resources
- Index Journal: Funding Shift Leaves D50 Short $1 Million
- Wikipedia: Education in South Carolina
- Gw Commonwealth: School District Applies to Recover Federal Funds
- Google Search: Greenwood School District budget shortfall
- Index Journal: Greenwood School District 50 Passes Budget with No Tax Increase
- Google Scholar: Greenwood School District funding
- 5 News Online: Greenwood Isaiah Arrington Scholarship
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Education
- SC Daily Gazette: SC Budget to Ban Cellphones in K-12 Schools
- Google News: Greenwood School District financial challenges
