Schools
Cooper elected president of Berkeley County School Board
By Tom Ratzloff
May 22, 2008 - 10:47:40 AM

Doug Cooper

Four months after his election to Berkeley County school board, Daniel Island’s Doug Cooper defeated fellow board member Terry Hardesty in a 5-4 vote May 13 to become board president.

Cooper replaces District 8’s Frank Wright, who was president last year. Wright was unanimously elected vice chairman and District 4 board member Jimmy Hinson will serve as secretary.

A manager for McNaughton-McKay Electric Co., Cooper’s campaign during the special election last winter stressed his strong analytical and consensus-building skills. These qualities will be needed in the coming year as the Berkeley board faces daunting challenges on many fronts.

Cooper said one of his top priorities is to continue to work with state, county and local governments to meet economic and demographic challenges. This would include working with state legislators to find an equitable new school funding formula and to build regional consensus on how to handle growth.

"I’m hoping to get more of the needs paid for by those creating the needs, rather than those that are already here and paying taxes," Cooper said. "This includes things like development contracts similar to what Beaufort County is driving."

He is also intrigued by the possibility of county and local governments sharing use of new school sites for mixed use.

"It would be like Daniel Island School but even more integrated, with city and county facilities adjacent to each other with shared parking and athletic facilities. Why should the taxpayer pay for those twice?"

The need for new district schools is crucial, according to Cooper.

"We have to find a way to acquire land for new school sites and then provide the funds for construction," Cooper said. "We need a new high school off of Clements Ferry (Road) someplace. We need a new elementary school in Tanner Plantation; we need to find a way to fund the middle school at Cane Bay and we need to address the need for more elementary- and middle-school capacity in the Moncks Corner area."

The most pressing and challenging matters facing the school board is grappling with the 2008-09 budget, Cooper said.

"We continue to get unfunded mandates that we need to fund in order to comply with the law," he said. "One example is the new requirement for each elementary student to receive an additional 20 hours of physical education from certified P.E. teachers. This means the district has to hire an additional six to eight P.E. teachers to meet a requirement that is being met currently by other means such as playground volunteers, regular teachers and so forth. Additionally, there are several areas where we had funded mandates that now the funding has been reduced significantly and we legally have to make up the difference."

Executive Director for Financial Services Brantley Thomas reviewed the school district’s preliminary budget estimates at the school board’s regular May 13 meeting.

"Mr. Chairman, I’m sorry to have the budget to do at your inaugural chairmanship," Thomas said.

His presentation was based on South Carolina Senate and Berkeley County government estimated projections. Right now it appears that the district will receive approximately $193.5 million in total revenues. However, he cautioned that the state is still debating the House and Senate versions and Berkeley County is finalizing its assessments. Any change in those estimates will change the school district’s local revenue.

The Berkeley district’s estimated general fund budget currently stands at roughly $196.5 million, according to Thomas. Costs include a state-mandated 3.85 percent salary hike for teachers and supporting staff. In addition, additional operational costs will be incurred because of the opening of Cane Bay High School and increased utility, operational and maintenance costs. Thomas said the proposed expenditures are simply to maintain the district’s current general fund programs.

While Senate and House legislators work to reach a budget accord, Thomas will continue to fine-tune his figures and await a final budget from Columbia.

"My job is to scrub the budget and reduce capital fund expenditure," Thomas said.