4/24/08
Stalemate
County board unable to make district line decision
By Jerriod Grizzle

JERRIOD GRIZZLE/Manning Times

CSD1 Board Chairman John Bonaparte (left) and CSD1 Superintendent Dr. Rose Wilder confer with Clarendon County Councilman for District 1, Billy Richardson.

The on-going drama of the Clarendon School Districts 1 and 2 lines found itself stalemated Tuesday night when the Clarendon County Board of Education was unable to rule in the matter. The Board’s authority in the matter was called into question by Dwight Moore, attorney for CSD1.

Moore questioned whether the County of Board of Education is empowered by state statute to change district lines. The statute, according to Moore, refers only to a Board of Education’s power to consolidate school districts.

Moore called for the legislative delegation to provide proof that the County Board of Education has the authority to rule in the discrepancy.

At issue was the recently discovered discrepancy between voting districts, school districts and taxing districts between the two neighboring parts of the county.

When Director of the Clarendon County Voter Registration Office Shirley Black-Oliver, requested and received new registration maps for voting lines, a discrepancy was discovered between the District 1 and 2 lines.

Black-Oliver said that when she looked at the Davis Station and Jordan precincts of Wyboo she noticed more discrepancies in the area.

The difference between the two lines goes back to 1984 when the superintendents of the two districts used road maps during a statewide undertaking to update the lines after the 1980 census.

Clarendon County government uses a 1969 map for taxing district determination. The maps from 1969 and 1984 are different.

The 1984 map was never officially approved at the state level or by the U.S. Department of Justice. Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act requires that state and local governments in certain parts of the country (including South Carolina) get federal approval (known as “preclearance”) before implementing any changes they want to make in their voting procedures: anything from moving a polling place to changing district lines in the county.

During the past three months, several board meetings between the districts were arranged but the districts drew a line in the sand and voted opposite one another. CSD1 voted in favor of the 1984 line earlier this month and CSD2 voted on the matter in March declaring that the 1969 line was correct. Both parties held the stance that they were doing what was best for the children of their district.

According to County Attorney David Epperson, another meeting will be necessary between the Board of Education and the two districts. At that time, proper documentation proving or disproving County Board’s authority to rule in the matter will be provided.