MARLBORO COUNTY — In a rough week for the Marlboro County School District, South Carolina education officials moved to place the school district under heightened state control after citing years of financial instability, governance failures and unresolved management problems, while some local residents and school leaders pushed back during a tense public meeting Monday night.
The South Carolina Board of Education approved a State of Education Emergency declaration for the district Tuesday in Columbia, one day after State Superintendent Ellen Weaver formally announced to local leaders her intention to seek the action. The move coincided with the release of the State Inspector General Brian Lamkin’s report detailing alleged procurement violations, weak oversight, undisclosed liabilities and other financial control problems.
At Monday’s Marlboro County school board meeting, members proceeded with approving a second reading of the proposed fiscal 2027 budget. District officials said the plan would leave the struggling education system with a surplus of nearly $900,000 and a positive general fund balance. State officials countered, however, that better finances do not address broader concerns about the district’s overall governance.
In a letter dated June 1 and addressed to board Chairman Michael Coachman, Weaver wrote “partial intervention is no longer sufficient” and said the district meets two conditions under state law justifying an emergency declaration: failure to conduct required recovery plans and substantial fiscal instability caused by a history of mismanagement.
Weaver wrote this has forced the state into a cycle of intervention for years. According to her letter, the district was placed on Fiscal Watch in 2022, a fiscal emergency was declared in February 2025, and — with State Board approval — the South Carolina Department of Education took over the district’s financial operations in July 2025. Since then, the agency said it has provided technical support and paid for an interim superintendent and chief financial officer to help stabilize operations.
She also said the state-backed budget for fiscal 2027 would be the first balanced spending plan since the 2018-19 school year that does not depend on the further draining of the district’s fund balance. Weaver indicated the progress she outlined is evidence the district can recover with “stable leadership, sound governance and fiscal practices, and a relentless focus on student outcomes.”
Despite the recent positive consequences from the state’s continued involvement, Weaver says the latest findings from the South Carolina Office of the State Inspector General show deeper structural problems remain in the district. The 22-page report concluded that the district failed in fiscal practices, did not follow its procurement code, carried significant tax and insurance liabilities, mismanaged funds and inadequately documented vendor payments. The report said those deficiencies totaled $7,354,844.24 and “elevated the risk of fraud over the district’s finances.”
The Inspector General also said in his report the board failed to properly oversee then-Superintendent Helena Tillar’s contract. The report pointed out Tillar’s July 20, 2023, agreement required “The superintendent agrees that no later than January 31, 2024, she shall establish a residence in the district and that she will maintain that residence so long as this agreement is in effect.”
Investigators said property tax records showed, however, Tillar claimed a primary residence exemption in Santee from 2022 through 2025 and received at least $326,250 in compensation from February 2024 through November 2025 while still living outside the district.
The report also scrutinized board compensation.
Under district policy, board members are paid $625 a month, or $7,500 a year, while the chair receives $833.33 a month, or $10,000 annually. But investigators said an email from the board chair to the finance director dated June 24, 2024, directed higher rates of $1,000 a month for members and $1,333.33 a month for the chair without a policy change or public discussion on the matter. Those rates remained in effect from July 2024 until December 2025, the report said.
The Inspector General said the board voted five times between 2022 and 2024 to award district staff bonuses that also went to board members, and said those actions violated state ethics law and district policy. The report further said some board members received coaching stipends from the district and that one appeared to be paid through a third party for emergency services at district athletic events, despite policy barring members from working or volunteering for the district in those roles.
“The Board failed to provide proper oversight of Dr. Tillar’s employment contract that resulted in the over payment of $326,250 in compensation when Dr. Tillar did not comply with the residency clause of the employment contract,” the report found. It also stated, “the Board prioritized its own financial self-interest by voting on five occasions to provide a bonus to each member, in direct violation of the State Ethics Act and Board policy BID.”
The state claims its concerns extend beyond finances.
Weaver said the district’s board failed to follow an agreed process for hiring a permanent superintendent, undermining confidence in the board majority’s ability to lead the district’s recovery. Last month, the state blocked the board’s effort to hire Dr. Carla Mathis, saying the district did not use the hiring process previously agreed upon with state officials. The district has not announced whether it will restart the search.
During Monday’s meeting, some residents criticized the state’s intervention.
“This is nothing but vindictive, retaliation, and abuse of power. For her to make good on her threats and bully this board,” resident Wyvette Douglas said.
Douglas also challenged the state’s handling of the district’s finances, saying, “All that stuff that’s in there, the state knew it when they came in. They knew it when they came in. So, all the things that we are being accused of, so are you, Mrs. Weaver,” Douglas said. She continued, “It is so ironic. First, it came with the veto. She was going to veto everybody —which she has no power, she’s not the governor. Now she wants to dismantle the board who were elected by the people. This is the great conspiracy that I was speaking of. The state superintendent never should have been here.”
Despite the public support shown at the meeting, views expressed on local social media sites largely favor the state’s proposed full takeover and dismantling of the MCSD board.
According to information Weaver shared during a South Carolina Board of Education meeting held Tuesday, a full board takeover would be a minimum six -year process.
She explained, “The first three years of this process would be complete state control of the district, and we would set exit criteria for that three years, benchmarks the district would need to meet in order to move to the second phase of the takeover under state law which would be an appointed district, again for a minimum of a three-year period. So, we are looking at implications for a minimum of six-years of complete state control plus an appointed board situation.”
Following her words, Dr. Christian Hanley, Jr. made a motion to proceed with dissolving the dually elected board of the Marlboro County School District and approving full state control or oversight for a minimum of six years of the education system. Board member Joyce Crimminger seconded his motion and the motion passed unanimously.
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