By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com

PICKENS COUNTY — Pickens County voters may get their say on any proposals to close or consolidate schools in the future if a newly-introduced bill is approved.
Sen. Larry Martin introduced bill S.1196 on April 5.
Martin emphasized that the bill is not intended to overturn the recent decision by Pickens County School Board trustees to close or consolidate schools in the Pickens area.
“I don’t want to give anybody false hope,” Martin said. “It’s done. There’s no way to put it on top of a decision that’s already been made.”
The bill is designed to give voters an avenue for petition regarding school board decisions — something that the public already has regarding city or county council decisions, Martin said.
“The common refrain I heard as this process played out is ‘What can I do? We don’t have any say in this,’” Martin said. “And frankly they don’t. They just don’t feel like they have any recourse. This is a petition avenue for voters to take if they believe an ordinance should be overturned.”
The bill would require that county school boards would, before Oct. 26 each year, provide “public notice of which, if any, schools the district recommends closing or consolidating.”
The vote by a board to close or consolidate schools must be stayed by a petition of at least 10 percent of the qualified electors of the school district that is submitted not more than 60 days after the vote, the bill states.
That petition must be presented to the county board of voter registration and elections for certification.
“If the petition does not contain at least 10 percent of the registered voters of the school district, the board may proceed with the closure or consolidation plan,” the bill states.
If the petition does contain at least 10 percent of registered voters, the board has several options under the bill.
It could submit the closure or consolidation question in a special referendum that will be held on a Saturday “not later than eight weeks after the certification,” the bill states.
The board could submit the question in the next general election, or it may rescind its previous vote to close or consolidate schools.
Once the petition is certified, the board may not proceed to close or consolidate schools without the referendum approval.
“I think it would be an excellent addition to our laws,” Martin said. “It would give voters some additional options.”
School board trustee Alex Saitta said the bill is “a step in the right direction.” Saitta has been a vocal critic of both the decision to close the schools and the way that vote was reached.
The bill “would give the public a direct say if a school board tries to close any other schools,” Saitta said. “Let’s face it — the residents of Pickens County were 100 percent opposed to closing any schools. Trustees Judy Edwards, Phil Bowers, Brian Swords and Herb Cooper and superintendent Dr. Danny Merck didn’t hear the message, and closed the schools anyway.”
Some officials, once elected or re-elected and “beyond the reach of the voters for another four years,” ignore the wishes of the people they work for, Saitta said.
The solution is giving the public the power to repeal “any item passed by their local government, be it their school board, county council or city council,” he said.
“This would put a little decision-making power in the hands of the people directly, and such veto authority could be used any time their elected officials go wayward on an issue like our school board did last month,” Saitta said.
Introducing the bill now gives voters an opportunity to see what Martin is thinking regarding the issue and gives him a chance to gauge the reaction to it, Martin said.
Martin believes there’s little chance of the bill passing this session, but hopes it will be taken up in the next session.
“The session’s winding down now,” Martin said.
The law giving school boards the responsibility for closing or consolidating schools has been on the books for more than 50 years, Martin said.
“It just doesn’t come up that often,” Martin said. “I could stand to be corrected, but this is the first consolidation decision that I’m aware of since the early 1970s in Pickens County,” he said. “The troubling thing about this is apparently there’s an interest in pursuing more of it (closures or consolidations.) It’s something that needs to be discussed. That’s the reason I introduced the bill.”