District budget briefing: state funding formula changes could leave Kershaw short on mandated salary increases

District finance staff told the Kershaw County School Board of Trustees that changes in the state’s school funding formula and charter school weightings have reduced the district’s relative share of state aid at a time when the legislature is requiring salary schedule increases.

Mister Willard summarized the funding formula shift from the older EFA approach to a proportionate share model that now pools charter and traditional public schools into one allocation. He explained that, under the current weightings, some charter schools receive significantly higher weight per pupil because they cannot levy local taxes; the brick‑and‑mortar charter weighting in the presentation was described as 1.25 above the district base (a total factor of 2.25 for those enrollments). Willard said the result can be paradoxical: “We could gain students, but lose funding,” he said,…