Rex Agrees that Governor Should Adhere to State Budget that Employs Federal Funds
May 26, 2009
COLUMBIA, SC – May 26, 2009 – State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex today agreed with the key points in a lawsuit that seeks to compel Governor Mark Sanford to accept federal stimulus funds aimed at helping schools and law enforcement agencies hit with massive budget cuts.
The South Carolina Association of School Administrators filed the suit Friday after Sanford said he would refuse to obey the General Assembly’s state budget, which requires him to accept $350 million in federal stabilization funds. Although SCASA listed both Sanford and Rex as defendants, the association said Rex’s inclusion was a legal technicality because the state budget’s language tells him to work with the governor in applying for the federal funds.
In his response filed today, Rex agreed with SCASA that the General Assembly’s budget for next year is a valid law that the governor is required to follow. Rex also said that his agency had completed the official application for the federal funds and that he had signed and delivered it to the governor for his signature.
In an optional filing, Rex also petitioned the South Carolina Supreme Court to accept the SCASA lawsuit under its original jurisdiction,
meaning that it should bypass lower courts and go directly to the state’s highest court for a decision.
It’s important that we have a quick ruling because July 1 is the deadline for South Carolina to apply for the stabilization dollars,
Rex said. South Carolina taxpayers are going to have to pay back this $350 million regardless, so it should be spent here in South Carolina.
Two additional lawsuits were filed late last week over the federal stabilization dollars. In the first, filed last Wednesday, Sanford asked a federal court to invalidate the General Assembly’s budget because, in requiring that he accept the funds, legislators had usurped his authority. A second lawsuit, filed in state court Friday by a Chapin High School senior and a University of South Carolina law student, seeks to require Sanford to accept the funds. Rex was not listed as a defendant in either of those actions.
Today is the deadline set by the General Assembly for Sanford to apply for the federal stabilization funds, but the governor has indicated that he will refuse because he believes the budget law is unconstitutional.
