South Carolina Code 59-20-50. State contribution level requirements; salary schedules
Provided, no district shall receive annually an increase in state funds less than the full rate of the inflationary adjustment in the base student cost specified in § 59-20-40(1)(b). This increase shall be computed annually over and above the amount actually received from the State for the foundation program in the prior fiscal year.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 59-20-50
- Base student: means that student classification that represents the most economically educated pupil in the school system, those in grades four through eight in regular classroom settings. See South Carolina Code 59-20-20
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Foundation program: means the program proposed to establish substantially equitable current operation funding levels for programs for South Carolina's public school students, regardless of their geographic location, after the students are transported to school and housed in school plants. See South Carolina Code 59-20-20
- Index of taxpaying ability: means an index of a local district's relative fiscal capacity in relation to that of all other districts of the State based on the full market value of all taxable property of the district assessed on the basis of property classification assessment ratios set forth in Article 3, Chapter 43 of Title 12 for the second completed taxable year preceding the fiscal year in which the index is used and these assessments must be the audited assessments by school district contained in the annual report submitted yearly to the Comptroller General's office. See South Carolina Code 59-20-20
Provided, further, after the fiscal year 1982-83 no district shall receive annually an increase in state funds less than four-fifths of the inflationary adjustment in the base student cost specified in § 59-20-40(1)(b). This increase shall be computed annually over and above the amount actually received from the State for the foundation program in the prior fiscal year.
Beginning July 1, 1994, no additional school district shall receive hold-harmless funds under this subsection due to decreases in student numbers or upward adjustments in the index of taxpaying ability.
(2) Notwithstanding any provisions of this chapter, any local school district may increase the local effort above the foundation program funding level as deemed necessary to meet the aspirations of the people of the district.
(3) Eighty-five percent of the funds appropriated through state and local effort for each weighted classification shall be spent in direct and indirect aid in the specific area of the program planned to serve those children who generated the funds. Districts expending less than the required eighty-five percent of the appropriated amount shall be subject to a penalty the following fiscal year in the amount equal to the difference between the amount spent and the required eighty-five percent figure.
However, this requirement shall not apply to the funds generated by children in the pupil classification "Speech Handicapped Pupils".
(4)(a) Each school district shall pay each certified teacher or administrator an annual salary at least equal to the salary stated in the statewide minimum salary schedule for the person’s experience and class. No teacher or administrator employed in the same position, over the same time period, shall receive less total salary, including any normal incremental increase, than that teacher or administrator received for the fiscal year before the implementation of this article.
(b) The state minimum salary schedule must be based on the state minimum salary schedule index in effect as of July 1, 1984. In Fiscal Year 1985, the 1.000 figure in the index is $14,172. (This figure is based on a 10.27% increase pursuant to the South Carolina Education Improvement Act of 1984.) Beginning with Fiscal Year 1986, the 1.000 figure in the index must be adjusted on a schedule to stay at the southeastern average as projected by the Office of Research and Statistic of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office and provided to the General Assembly during their deliberations on the annual appropriations bill. The southeastern average teacher salary is the average of the average teachers’ salaries of the southeastern states. In projecting the southeastern average, the office shall include in the South Carolina base teacher salary all local teacher supplements and all incentive pay. Under this schedule, school districts are required to maintain local salary supplements per teacher no less than their prior fiscal level. In Fiscal Year 1986 and thereafter teacher pay raises through adjustments in the state’s minimum salary schedule may be provided only to teachers who demonstrate minimum knowledge proficiency by meeting one of the following criteria:
(1) holding a valid professional certificate;
(2) having a score of 425 or greater on the Commons Examination of the National Teachers Examinations;
(3) meeting the minimum qualifying score on the appropriate area teaching examination; or
(4) meeting the minimum standards on the basic skills examinations as prescribed by the State Board of Education provided in § 59-26-20.