Taxpayers sue over school building plan

PICKENS, S.C. (AP) - Taxpayers in Pickens County are suing the school district there because of a plan to build new schools even after voters rejected a request from the board to issue bonds to pay for the construction.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in other school districts, including Cherokee County's current building plan, paying for construction through an installment purchase agreement.

''The voters turned down $197 million in new bonds,'' said Greenville attorney Jim Carpenter, who filed the suit for the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation and several residents. ''Now (the schools) want to borrow $315 million.''

The suit asks the court to find the district's plan invalid and illegal.

The school district's attorney will brief the board and respond after reviewing the suit, district spokeswoman Julie Thompson said.

The school board approved a plan Nov. 27 to build four new high schools and a career and technology center. Existing high school would be converted into middle schools and a new primary school would be built.

The plan would be paid for through an installment purchase plan, which is being used or considered by about a quarter of South Carolina's school districts and is used extensively in other states, Thompson said.

The suit is similar to a Colleton County case that is awaiting a ruling by a court, Thompson and Carpenter said. It also is similar to a suit filed in Greenwood District 50, Carpenter said.