Meet the candidates for Horry County Board of Education, District 8
Patricia Gore Milley
Age | 76
Party | Republican
Occupation | Retired educator, serves on Horry County Disabilities and Special Needs Board
Family | Widow; three children; 10 grandchildren
Education | B.A., secondary science; M.A., secondary science; 10 additional courses in elementary education
Civic and political experience | Myrtle Beach Republican Women Chaplain; more than 50 years of working with children in church programs; 24 years of Teaching in public and private schools; experience in all grades.
Military experience | None
Question | Last year, the Board of Education approved building five new schools at $72.9 million over the initial budget. Do you think that money will be well-spent, and if not, what would you have suggested the district do differently?
Answer | I would have chosen a plan and put it out for competitive bidding. They only had one bid per plan.
John Poston (incumbent)
Age | 47
Party | Republican
Occupation | Civil Engineer and Land Surveyor
Family | Wife, Robin; one son, two daughters
Education | B.S., civil engineering, Clemson University; B.S., mathematics, Francis Marion University
Civic and political experience | Horry County Board of Education District 8 Representative, Conway Medical Center Foundation Board (Past Chair), First Baptist Church Conway deacon and Sunday school teacher, Horry County Schools volunteer.
Military experience | None
Question | Last year, the Board of Education approved building five new schools at $72.9 million over the initial budget. Do you think that money will be well-spent, and if not, what would you have suggested the district do differently?
Answer | I voted against the five-school building program because the project was severely over budget. This budget over-run is already impacting other projects through delays of renovations, repairs and facility replacements. The premise of the five-school building program was long-term savings from energy-positive schools. To quantify actual performance, energy savings and cost savings for the new schools, at least one year of operational data (better would be a three-year average) will be needed. Based upon current project schedules, it appears that there should be sufficient data by the summer of 2020 to evaluate whether the money was well-spent.
This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Meet the candidates for Horry County Board of Education, District 8."