Kershaw leaders warn proposed state mandates could raise district costs in 2025–26 budget

Kershaw County School District staff told the school board on April 8 that several proposed changes in the South Carolina Legislature could materially increase local costs and complicate district operations if enacted.

Mr. Willett, a district staff member who presented the budget update, said the district has reviewed amendments that would expand paid parental leave, require cardiac emergency planning and AED placement, and mandate mobile panic alert systems. Superintendent Dr. Goodwin and district staff detailed preliminary fiscal-impact estimates and the operational challenges of implementation.

“There has been an amendment proposed to move [maternity leave] from 6 weeks to 12 weeks,” Willett said. He explained the district has averaged 975 combined maternity and paternity leave days in recent years; doubling those days to reflect a 12-week/4-week revision would roughly double the days and increase substitute and staffing costs by “several hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

On cardiac emergency requirements (the Smart Heart Act as described to the board), Willett said the bill would require districts to create cardiac emergency response teams, conduct annual training and place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at athletic facilities. The district estimated AED replacements and placements alone would cost at least $120,000.

District staff gave the strongest cost estimate for mobile panic alert systems, a house-passed proposal that would require badge-style devices and integrated alerting. Willett said a conservative implementation estimate for the badge hardware and basic system was over $1 million; Superintendent Dr. Goodwin warned full implementation, including infrastructure upgrades for older buildings, could raise the cost closer to $2 million and likely require a multi-year rollout.

“Some of our older facilities were not designed for this kind of technology, and we would have to retrofit just like we did when we did computer networks,” Dr. Goodwin said. He added that companies could struggle to install such systems statewide in a single year.

Staff also summarized the Educator Assistance Act (formerly discussed as an educator bill) and noted changes to certificate treatment, a potential retiree certificate, contract timing for teachers, and a requirement that every district maintain a sick leave bank. District leaders said several provisions largely mirror current Kershaw practice but could create new administrative requirements in some districts.

Separately, the board reviewed the district———salary schedule study. Willett said the K–12 subcommittee upheld a $1,500-per-scale increase that would move starting teacher pay from $47,000 to $48,500 pending final legislative action. The district also presented a proposal affecting programmatic and district-level support staff that would impact an estimated 35–40 FTEs and cost about $150,000 on a 242-day schedule; the total budget consideration including earlier proposals was presented as roughly $1.772 million.

Board members asked whether these items would be treated as unfunded mandates. Willett said the proposals are currently unfunded, and while some legislators have spoken about funding, without new appropriations the cost would likely be shifted to districts.

District staff said they will continue to monitor legislative action, update fiscal-impact statements and work with the delegation on realistic implementation timelines.