The Fort Mill School Board convened for a special called meeting following a sudden shift in state funding projections that left local administrators racing to reconcile a million-dollar deficit ahead of the upcoming fiscal year.
The budgetary shakeup began after the South Carolina Department of Education distributed Senate budget projections to school districts statewide on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. The Fort Mill School District initially utilized those figures to build its formal budget recommendation during a regularly scheduled board meeting that same evening.
However, on Thursday, May 21, state education officials notified districts that the original projections contained significant calculation errors. State administrators cited three primary areas where the accounting faltered:
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Errors regarding Limestone transfer figures associated with Erskine.
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Discrepancies in new school enrollment data.
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Computational mistakes regarding fiscal year 2025–2026 “Hold Harmless” calculations.
The state department has since corrected and reposted the projected allocations, but the recalculation carries financial consequences for the local community…