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Trustees decline Winthrop teacher-pathway dual-enrollment program pending budget plan

Board of Trustees of Rock Hill Schools · December 10, 2025
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Summary

A proposed dual-enrollment education-and-teaching pathway with Winthrop University that would enroll ~25 students was put to a motion to not approve until the district identifies how to fund student tuition; trustees voted 3–2 to delay approval, citing concerns about per-student costs and equity.

The Rock Hill Schools board on Dec. 9 voted 3–2 to withhold approval of a proposed education-and-teaching dual-enrollment pathway with Winthrop University until the district provides clearer budget plans for covering student tuition.

Presenter Lisa Johnson described a program that would allow juniors and seniors to take Winthrop courses during the school day and earn up to 19 credit hours as seniors and 35 credit hours if they begin as juniors. The program would enroll about 25 students at launch and include coursework aligned to Winthrop undergraduate education degrees. Johnson said cost-per-student figures appear on the presentation materials and that some model years listed per-student charges in the range of $1,445 for a given term.

Several trustees expressed strong support for the pathway’s goal of growing local teacher pipelines but said they could not approve a program that places a potentially large per-family bill on parents without a clear funding commitment. One trustee said the district’s $230 million budget should be examined to find room to support students, while others said any cost would have to be offset by scholarships or district funding. The motion before the board, made and seconded by trustees, asked that the program not be approved until district-level budget discussions clarified who would pay for dual-enrollment costs; the motion passed 3–2.

Superintendent Doctor Elder and staff said the approval on Dec. 9 was a program-approval step only and that funding questions would be resolved in the budget process; staff noted Winthrop’s courses are buyout models that require instructor scheduling and student IGP planning to proceed on the timeline Johnson presented.