A local bill crafted by the Fairfield County legislative delegation and designed to force the Fairfield County School District to send money into the Chester County School District is now law.

The Mitford Bill (S. 1405) was ratified June 2 and signed by Governor Sanford June 8. It mandates that the Fairfield County School District reimburse Chester for students living in the Mitford area who attend Chester County Schools, with payments to begin no later than June 30 of this year.

The Fairfield County School Board, meanwhile, has not set aside for the approximate $650,000 in their 2010-2011 fiscal year budget, nor do they intend to do so, according to Board Chairwoman Annie McDaniel and many of her fellow board members.

“We’re looking at it (the new law) very closely to see whether or not there are some other options before us,” McDaniel said, “and we’re looking to exercise those options before that check is cut.”

Rep. Boyd Brown, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Creighton Coleman, said that what many people in Fairfield County don’t realize is that this law will actually save the school district money, both in education and transportation.

“This is saving Fairfield County money and saving kids a long bus ride into Winnsboro every morning,” Brown said. “It will save us about $800,000.”

McDaniel disagreed.

“He needs to present me with the analysis he did to reach that conclusion,” she said.

Coleman said the figures were easily derived from subtracting the amount Chester spends per pupil from the amount Fairfield spends per pupil, then multiplying that by the 120 children in the Mitford area who attend Chester County schools.

Based on the 2008-2009 numbers from the S.C. Department of Education, that equation would be $12,565 (Fairfield) - $9,535 (Chester) = $3,029 x 120 = $363,480.

To that, add the cost of transportation.

“It saves Fairfield County about $800,000,” Coleman said. “Number two, they don’t have to get on a bus and travel long distances to school. Number three, the classrooms are smaller because of it.

“Plus, it’s the right thing to do,” Coleman added.

McDaniel said that although the district has not signed an agreement with anyone to date to fight the law, an attorney is giving it consideration.

“It is being reviewed to determine if the law is constitutional,” she said.

The district also sent out a letter to parents earlier this month, asking for their support in defeating the bill.

“Dr. Robinson (Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools) is playing politics with it,” Brown said, “and it’s only hurting the kids.

“The fact is, we were paying Chester $25,000 a year for years until the district decided to stop paying them,” Brown continued. “They had a good deal, but the school board messed that up.”

On this point, Brown and McDaniel actually see more eye-to-eye.

“I agree with him to a certain extent,” McDaniel said. “Sleeping dogs should have kept sleeping, and that $25,000 should have kept going.”

But, she pointed out, the board was governed by a different majority when the $25,000 deal evaporated, and now it is up to the current board to either assemble a genuine challenge to the law or pay up.