Many people say Dorchester County's school needs should simply be paid for by new development. It's a good soundbite and a sentiment I think we all share.
And going forward, that's the goal. But it can't fix where we are today, and getting there takes a plan.
Under South Carolina law, impact fees can't play catch-up. They can only pay for new capacity created by new growth. They can't renovate an aging high school, modernize a middle school or replace a building that has reached the end of its life - or replace the 20+ year old AC, or put on a new roof.
Outside of the East Edisto region, our biggest challenge isn't capacity. It's aging schools and no funding mechanism in place to keep them current. This referendum renovates all four high schools countywide, modernizes middle schools across Dorchester County and rebuilds two schools in the upper part of the county.
It also solves the one place where crowding is the problem. It builds new schools in East Edisto to relieve the overcrowding families there face now. All the approvals for those homes are under the development agreement Dorchester County approved in 2012 with MeadWestvaco when the 144,000 acre East Edisto master development zoning was approved and implemented.
New development can only be required to pay for its own school capacity once the county has caught up. When our schools have adequate capacity, new development can then carry its own weight. Until then, the bill for the backlog falls on someone.
For years, that someone has been property owners, through one bond referendum after another, each adding to our already high property tax bills.
The school capital construction funding breaks that cycle. It's a dedicated, 15-year funding stream that gets us caught up, maintains and modernizes the schools we have, and is shared by everyone who shops here. It does all of that without raising property taxes. And in fact, this lowers those property taxes by requiring 10% of the revenue to pay down that existing debt from those past referendums.
First we get caught up. Then growth pays its own way. This is the plan we have been waiting on from the school districts for more than 20 years. The time to say YES is now.