A RESOLUTION OF THE PICKENS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
ASKING ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS TO FOLLOW THE CONSTITUTION IN REGARDS TO FUNDING EDUCATION
Whereas, the Constitution of the State of South Carolina in Article 11 Section 3 states, "the state shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools open to all children of the State", and,
Whereas, the people of South Carolina did fund schools through the income tax and the alcohol and tobacco tax as late as 1950, when Governor James F. Byrnes asked the people to approve of a 3% sales tax for the educational purpose of exclusively building schools, and,
Whereas, later on in the 1980's Governor Dick Riley asked the people
to fund another 1% sales tax exclusively for education, which they did, and,
Whereas, In 2006 the General Assembly passed Statutory Law 388 which
added another 1% sales tax to alleviate home owners from school tax on their individual residences, and,
Whereas, all of the above amounted to a 5% sales tax for education, and
Whereas, the Educational Lottery brings in another $323 million dollars for educations, and,
Whereas, even though the people of this state have provided all these funds for education, recent court orders confirm the state is not meeting the requirements of Article 11 Section 3 of the Constitution, and therefore, has violated the same, and,
Whereas, withholding of state funds already collected creates a situation where local school boards go back to the taxpayers for more money to fund the gaps created when the state spends monies collected in the general fund, for non-core governmental activities, and,
Whereas, the situation creates enormous friction within the communities across the state related to education funding, therefore be it,
Resolved, that the Pickens County Republican Party believes the General Assembly should work earnestly to adequately fund education with monies already collected for that purpose, and be it,
Resolved, that all teacher pay scales should be equal across the state, and all building, books, supplies and all other expenses associated with education should come from state coffers, and not
through a hodgepodge of local taxes, while state funds collected for education purposes are spent on other things or squandered on pet projects.
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