Spartanburg School District 7's controversial deal with the private Country Club of Spartanburg has prompted Rep. Joey Millwood, R-Landrum, to introduce a new bill at the Statehouse that would require all school districts to be independently audited.
Spartanburg District 7 will pay the country club $200,000, plus another $5,000 a year, to allow the golf teams from Spartanburg High to play and practice on the golf course. Rep. Millwood says, "$200,000 for a private golf course blew my mind." But he says he's just as troubled by the fact that the district is paying a new superintendent-elect $170,000, which is more than the superintendent makes.
"I want to see if there's any spending waste," he says.
District 7 superintendent Dr. Thomas White says the district is already independently audited every year. "If he can get that bill through and they pay for it, I don't mind if we have another audit," he says.
The bill calls for the state Budget and Control Board to pay for the audits of all school districts. Rep. Millwood says the estimated cost is $1 million.
Spartanburg District 5 superintendent Dr. Scott Turner says this attempt to find waste would itself be wasteful. "I think it's totally redundant. We already have independent audits done every year on all of our school accounts, local accounts, state accounts, federal accounts. There's no need for more audits," he says.
Other area superintendents agreed. They have no problem with another audit but don't see the need for it, since they're already audited every year.
Rep. Millwood says, "It seems like those audits are missing a few things."
As for the charge that it would be wasteful to pay for another round of independent audits when they're already done, he says, "I'm a fiscal conservative. I certainly wouldn't put something forward that I thought would waste money."
He introduced the bill in the House Thursday and it was sent to the Ways and Means Committee, which deals with spending.
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