The pipe from which state money flows into schools has been cramped by the economic pinch and districts like Newberry want more say in how the remaining money is spent after close to $2.5 million in budget cuts.

Last month, representatives of school administrators, superintendents and the State Department of Education proposed ideas to help keep quality education despite less funding.

The proposed legislation, which would allow for larger class sizes and less testing, passed a State House vote last Thursday.

The now twice-amended bill is in the Senate awaiting approval before heading to Governor Mark Sanford.

“We like the idea of flexibility with spending...but we’ll have to take a close look at it once it reaches the governor desk,“ said Sanford’s spokesman, Joel Sawyer.

Here are the highlights from the amended resoluion.

If passed, it would:

• Allow an increase the number of students under one teacher beyond the state-set limit or mandated pupil-teacher ratio.

Currently, regulations say that maximum pupil-teacher ratios should not exceed the following:

-for kindergarten-grade 3: 30/1

-for grades 4 and 5 English and math: 30/1

-for grades 4 and 5 all other subjects : 35/1

-for grade 6 English and math: 30/1

-for grade 6 and all other subjects: 35/1

-for grades 7/8: 35/1

-for high school grades: 35/1

• Give districts freedom to spend money for areas it thinks need funds. Before, money given to districts was restricted for specific programs. Money required for paying debts is still off-limits for operational spending.

Four times a year, the district must report that it has in fact complied with the new flexibility requirements.

• Delay the day teacher contracts are given from April 15 to May 15

• Allow the district to negotiate a lower salary for active retired teachers than the state-set minimum pay

• Require that furloughs for teachers include administrators, too

“If specified in the contract...a district may furlough teachers for up to five non-instructional days provided that the district administrators are furloughed for twice the number of days,“ the bill reads.

Dowd says she thinks the proposed bill could furlough administration at the director level and up, as well as principals and assistant principals. “[But] we have not been given any direction or guidance as of yet, since the bill is not final,“ she said.

• Encourage districts “to limit the number of low-enrollment courses, expand virtual instruction and, to the extent possible, develop schedules to minimize transportation costs of extracurricular and academic competitions.“

• Suspend testing for grades 1, 2 and 9 in the areas of foreign language and physical education.

• Stop districts from purchasing new textbooks for the coming year.

• Encourage the State Department of Education to find the most economical bus fuel available.

• Ensure that each district use at least 65 percent of its operational money on classroom instruction, including money for guidance, media, transportation and food services.

“All school districts, they’ve determined, will be able to meet that (65 percent requirement),“ said Dowd.

To see the fully proposed bill visit http://www.scstatehouse.gov/cgi-bin/query.exe and type in “H. 3352“ in the search bar.