Schools join reassessment cap fight

By: Allison L. Bruce of The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 4/15/03
 

Board votes to hire 2 groups to search for new district chief The Charleston County School Board decided Monday who would lead the search for the next superintendent and opted to join a lawsuit against a countywide property reassessment cap. The board voted 8-0 to hire two organizations to handle its search for a new superintendent to replace Superintendent Ron McWhirt when his contract ends this summer. Board member Jill Conway was absent. The S.C. School Boards Association will work together with Jim Huge & Associates to do a joint superintendent search. "We'll have the best of both worlds, a local group and a group known to do national searches," said board member Hillery Douglas. "We'll find the right person to do this job." The organizations said they would start searching as soon as the board approved their hire, said board member Brian Moody. "Time was of the essence, and they wanted to hit the ground running," he said. The timeline for the search outlines the screening of candidates no later than June 20 and interviews no later than July 15. The board would have finalists before the end of July, and a contract should be hammered out by Aug. 30. The fees are $12,500 for S.C. School Boards Association and $7,500 for Jim Huge and Associates. On top of that are estimated costs of $5,000 for printing, postage and advertising, $5,000 for travel of consultants from both organizations, $5,000 for candidate expenses during interviews and $5,000 for board members to visit finalists.Those amounts fall within the $40,000 the district budgeted for the search. Moody said the organizations also promised to find another candidate at no charge if the selected superintendent doesn't stick around for at least two years. The board wasn't as quick to approve the decision to join North Charleston's suit against Charles-ton County on the 15 percent reassessment cap. That vote was 6-2 with Moody and Susan Simons voting against joining the suit. "I don't like governments suing other governments -- using public money to sue each other," Moody said. Douglas, one of the members in favor of joining the suit, said it was the right decision since the school district stands to lose about $24 million at its current tax rate under the reassessment cap. "I feel taxes ought to be fair ... I don't know where this thing about protecting the rich came from," he said. "Ninety-five percent of parents of our students would not benefit from this cap."

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