New school funding plan focuses on North Charleston’s challenges

The Charleston County School District (CCSD) Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on a proposed 2024-2025 budget June 24 after it passed unanimously at the May 20 first reading..

Almost seven in 10 dollars of the $847.5 million budget — a 20% increase over the current budget — will go toward teacher and staff pay.

“[The budget] includes a teacher pay raise of $7,500,” Superintendent Anita Huggins said during a May 16 North Charleston City Council meeting. “I listened to principals who said we can’t keep our school-based classified folks … we can’t keep them so we have to pay them more. Many classified employees like [teacher assistants] also are going to be elevated several DBMs, which is how we classify our positions.”

Huggins also shared the countywide district’s new Weighted Student Formula (WSF) included in the 2024-25 budget. It’s a new tool to distribute resources to schools throughout the district based on need.

“In the new WSF, principals have autonomy to work with their stakeholders, their teachers and their communities to determine how to best serve pupils in poverty, students with disabilities and multilingual learners,” she said, adding that she does not want to micromanage the people who best know how to serve their students.

Principals have the power to compose individual plans for how they would use the funds, rather than a budget plan that is set by the state or county, Huggins said in the meeting.

Continued Efforts

The WSF would allocate $15.2 million for North Charleston schools, making up nearly half of the $32.5 million given to the whole district. The additional funds come after ongoing tensions between North Charleston and CCSD leaders. North Charleston leaders have long discussed pulling area schools out of CCSD and forming their own district.

Following the North Charleston meeting, Huggins released a video message to families and staff of North Charleston with a summarizing update and discussed the district’s continued commitment to serving schools in North Charleston.

“Not only am I committed, but many of the esteemed leaders of this district seated behind me share that commitment,” Huggins said during a May meeting with city council members. “They share that commitment as evident by the growth of students in North Charleston schools, and by our dedication to strategically planning how we’re going to move forward in service to our children, children you and I share.”

She said that there was a projected increase in reading readiness amongst North Charleston elementary schools of 13.4%, and similarly in mathematics with an expected 11.8% increase.

In North Charleston middle schools, recorded standardized test scores are up 12% in reading and 9% in math since last year according to data presented by Huggins. North Charleston highschools have seen an improvement in End of Course exams scores in three of four subjects tested.

According to Huggins, there are several projects underway to ensure students have up-to-date spaces and commodities. These plans include new buildings, expansions, improvements and additions to Ladson Elementary, Stall High School, Deer Park Middle, AC Cochran, Military Magnet, North Charleston High and Academic Magnet.

“We are turning dirt and improving facilities, too,” Huggins said.