Editor’s Note: Jacorie McCall is one of the citizens who signed up for the public hearing at the Dillon County Council Office, but who was not allowed to complete his presentation. Below is his planned presentation. It is printed with parental permission granted.
My name is Jacorie McCall, last week I represented the Dillon School District Four at Palmetto Boys State to expand by knowledge of government and the way our county and state are run. One of the most influential things I retained during the week was a quote by Lt. Governor Kevin Bryant, “Education is the key foundation for the State of South Carolina, that pushes us forward into prosperity.”
South Carolina ranks 48 out of 50 states in education. With a new inland port coming to Dillon we have the possibility of improving our county’s economic development, as well as educational growth. Taking money from the local school district is taking a step back in growth. The school has received money from the county for 20 years. Last year we received $319,000 in funds from the county. This money is pledged to the repayment of the school debt for the new county school buildings. Our school districts need this money to fully fund day to day operations and work with a budget to help our districts succeed. We need to educate and help our future graduates become employees at new industries such as a high-tech company like Wyman-Gordon and many more industries that we hope the new inland port will produce. These types of skilled jobs will increase the local income for families in our area. If we do not educate within our county, people from various counties; such as Darlington, Florence, Marion, and Marlboro, will get the jobs in Dillon and spend their money where they live and that means no money for county and no growth for education.
I urge our county councilman to support our local schools and put education first.
After the meeting, Jacorie submitted the following additional statement:
“Government stands for the people, for the voiceless, and for all. The people do not serve the government it serves the people. For many citizens of Dillon County, your county leaders want to TAKE AWAY funding that is helping your students, kids and grandkids. $319,000 dollars and more per year depending on the growth of Dillon County. We are speaking about 1.3 million dollars every 4 YEARS. Education cannot be last in our county with the amount of economic growth that’s coming in the county. I represented the School districts along with our superintendents, school board members and concerned parents. We weren’t allowed to speak for our three minutes because the County Chairman did not like what we had to say. This budget is terrible; it’s a DARK DAY FOR DILLON COUNTY, WHEN CITIZENS ARE DENIED THEIR RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR RIGHT TO “SPEAK” ON HOW THEY FEEL!!”
