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State orders independent audit after rejecting Richland One's financial recovery plan

The South Carolina Department of Education says Richland One's financial recovery plan is not good enough, and they have ordered an independent audit.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Education said Richland One's financial recovery plan is not good enough and has now ordered an independent audit. 

For several months, Richland One has been placed on "fiscal caution" following a July report from the State Inspector General that pinpointed concerns about the district's efforts to build an early learning center in Lower Richland. 

On Oct. 11, Richland One sent its final fiscal recovery plan to the State Department of Education. The plan covered liability with pending lawsuits, financial requirements for future operations of the learning center, and the decline in state aid funding and maintenance for existing Richland One buildings. 

However, the South Carolina Department of Education deemed this plan "deficient or incomplete."

For example, the Department of Education said Richland One didn't address how it intends to implement controls to ensure funds won't be mismanaged in the future and that the district did not indicate that estimated recurring costs for the early learning center have been evaluated. 

Locals who live behind the unfinished early learning center are still upset about how things were handled. 

"Going forward I would just like them to be more aware of the community and what they're doing to better it and to make sure they have proper permits and build according to zoning laws and have proper drainage plan before they built so close to a neighborhood," said Meaghan Ilimaleota, a woman who lives behind the early learning center. 

These locals said they wished they had known about what was happening before construction started. 

"I don't see why they didn't want to have a meeting and discuss what they were doing right on top of us. They could easily put that together. We could have sat down in one place, heard what they was planning on doing the whole process, asked questions, but no, they didn't do any of that," Tony Chavis, president of the HOA, said.

Richland School District One sent News19 this statement: "We are in receipt of the letter dated October 31, 2024, from the South Carolina Department of Education. The Richland One board of school commissioners will review the letter at an upcoming meeting."

In yesterday's letter to Richland One, the State Department of Education said it will not elevate this to a state of fiscal emergency because it hopes the audit will foster improvements.

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