Recent headlines show new leadership, audit results, award funding

REISENAUER IS NEW USC SUMTER CAMPUS DEAN

A familiar face is the new dean at University of South Carolina Sumter after USC Palmetto College Chancellor Craig Wilson recently appointed longtime campus leader Eric Reisenauer to the leadership post.

Reisenauer served as USC Sumter's interim dean for a little more than 1.5 years and since July 2024 before his appointment in early May. USC Palmetto College distributed a news release on the announcement on March 16, which was when Reisenauer officially began in his new role.

Wilson praised Reisenauer's extensive record of leadership and service at USC Sumter that goes back to 1997 when he came on as a faculty member. Later, Reisenauer became the college's associate dean and executive associate dean for academic and student affairs before assuming the interim dean role in 2024 when Michael Sonntag stepped down as dean.

In the release, Wilson said Reisenauer's nearly 30-year connection to the Sumter campus and his deep commitment to student success make him well suited to guide USC Sumter's continued growth and advancement.

"USC Sumter is an essential institution for our community and for South Carolina," Wilson said. "Dr. Reisenauer's strategic vision, collaborative leadership style and long service to the Sumter region demonstrate his readiness to lead the campus into a promising new chapter."

AUDIT: DISTRICT FINISHES YEAR WITH $2.8M IN NET INCOME

Like district Chief Financial Officer Shatika Spearman has projected in recent months, Sumter School District closed fiscal 2025 with $2.8 million in net income in its official audit report.

Maulden and Jenkins Auditor Brian Nicholson presented the one-year snapshot report through June 30, 2025, to the district's Board of Trustees at its March 23 meeting. The $2.8 million total lifts the district's fund balance, or reserves, to $63.9 million. The net income total represents that the district's revenues exceeded its expenditures by $2.8 million for the fiscal year, which was July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.

Additionally, the district's unassigned - or unrestricted - fund balance is $62.1 million, Nicholson reported.

Sumter's reserves amount represents about 38% of its total annual expenditures. Best practices by the Government Finance Officers Association recommend for a fund balance to be at 20% to 25% of annual expenditures, he added, and the district is well above that threshold.

The local district has been above the best practices range since fiscal 2021.

State law requires districts to have 8.33% of yearly expenditures - or one month's operational expenses - in unrestricted fund balance.

Based in Columbia, Maulden and Jenkins is the district's independent auditor and gave the district a "clean and unmodified opinion." Nicholson told the school board in his presentation that is the "best opinion" that a government entity, such as a school district, can receive in the auditing process.

Fiscal 2025 marked the ninth consecutive year that the district has had net income, or a positive change in its fund balance.

NATIONAL GROUP AWARDS $2M TO LIBERTY STEAM

A national philanthropic group focused on expanding best-in-class organizations to transform education for more children recently awarded $2 million to Liberty STEAM Charter School for its expansion efforts.

On March 19, the Yass Prize foundation awarded more than $20 million in grants and interest-free loans to 16 organizations across the U.S. to scale up their educational models, including Liberty, at the foundation's Power of Innovation Summit in Washington, according to a news release.

The Sumter-based public charter school was one of 11 previous Yass Prize winners to receive first-time "alumni awards" for expansion and growth.

During the last five years, the foundation has had more than 400 Yass Prize winners, but the criteria to apply for an alumni award in this grant cycle required a school or educational system to still be in its expansion phase. With Liberty STEAM's buildout not complete until 2033 when it becomes a K-12 school, it met the criteria.

Applicants had to pitch their growth and sustainability plans at a three-day Yass Prize Alumni Award Accelerator conference in Miami, Florida, in November to a panel of judges, according to Liberty Executive Director Trevor Ivey.

He made the school's pitch for $2.1 million at the event. That total represents the projected funding gap between state funding received by Liberty STEAM versus the total cost to educate the 150 students, or "scholars," in the founding class of 2033 until their graduation from high school, Ivey said.

Ivey's proposal centered on transforming what has long been known as the Interstate 95 "Corridor of Shame" into a "Corridor of Hope and Opportunity," redefining what is possible for communities historically underserved by public education, he said.

Ivey added the award money will be used for capital projects with a majority utilized to kickstart the school's performing arts programming for its middle-school grades ahead of schedule.

Yass Prize Founder Janine Yass said the alumni awards will allow high-performing schools to take next steps in growth.

"This new, refined Alumni Award program is the next step in providing some of our most accomplished awardees with critical support to expand their footprint in areas where families are actively seeking innovative education options," she said. "It reflects what we are seeing every day - growing demand from families for new opportunities and extraordinary leaders ready to meet that demand."

In 2024, the Yass Prize foundation awarded Liberty $200,000 in recognition of its academic outcomes, innovative educational model and demonstrated demand through its open-enrollment lottery.