PAMPLICO, SC (WBTW) – One Pee Dee school district agrees with lawmakers who say it’s time to combine school services for districts statewide.
In the debate on school district consolidation in South Carolina, it’s smaller rural districts like Florence School District Two in Pamplico where advocates have said that combining services like transportation and human resources can benefit students and staff.
Florence Two Superintendent Neal Vincent said when the state Department of Education released a study earlier this month on the pros and cons of consolidation in Florence County, he wanted to make sure his district was represented adequately.
“We have no problem consolidating services,” Vincent said after Monday night’s Board of Trustees meeting. “We want to be good stewards of the funds that we’ve been provided.”
Vincent went through the report step by step with board members during the meeting, pointing out cases for and against consolidating certain services with other districts in Florence County, specifically when it comes to efficiently delivering those services to students.
“Our overhead is very thin,” said Vincent. “We’re very thin at the district office and that shows in the efficiency studies and most of our money is diverted to the classroom.”
He said he has some ideas on certain services the district could consolidate–with or without a state mandate.
“We’re not opposed to doing a county-wide career and technology program,” Vincent proposed. “We’re not opposed to sharing services, transportation for example, curriculum instruction, food service.”
While Vincent said his and a few other school boards in Florence County are against full consolidation for now, he said they are open to new ideas.
“We’re open to sharing services and we’ve had conversations with our neighboring districts,” he said.
Superintendent Vincent said there are no formal agreements between the five districts in Florence County to share services, but he said the open dialogue will continue until state leaders can come to a consensus on a statewide solution.
