ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Students in Orangeburg are about to see a new special course offered, and incoming teachers will see a boost in salary.
The Orangeburg County School District covered a lot of ground in their Tuesday night meeting discussing everything from a new course catalog to their frustrations with state education funding.
In the 2022-2023 school year students can expect a new CDL (Commercial Drivers License) class to be offered at the school district's career academy. The district says it will work to make the class available to any student that is interested, no matter what school they go to.
"We would coordinate with the guidance counselors, the schools, and the parents, and the office of transportation to see if we can make it accessible," said curriculum and instruction staff.
School board members also spoke about updating a policy that allows a transfer students to shift class ranks in their senior year of high school. Meaning, a student can only become eligible to become valedictorian or salutatorian after staying at an Orangeburg High School for a certain amount of time.
"To my understanding you have to be here for a total of 4 semesters which is 2 years," said Superintendent, Dr. Shawn Foster.
After a long conversation about class ranks, the school board introduced the budget for the upcoming school year, and said the state's new education funding changes will be difficult to overcome.
Although the school district said they will have a smaller budget for next year, incoming teachers can expect a boost in starting salary going from $36,000 currently, to $40,000 if the state passes an education funding overhaul they have been discussing since 2020.
The next school board meeting will be on May 10, and will not be open to the public.
The Senate Education Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, April 13 at 9 a.m. to continue discussing the overhaul for state education funding.