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South Carolina taxpayers have watched more than $1.3 million flow out of Midlands school districts over the past five years — not to teachers, textbooks or classrooms, but to superintendents paid handsomely to leave jobs before their contracts ended.
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That’s about to change. The South Carolina General Assembly is poised to pass a state budget containing a measure that would cap what local school boards can pay to buy out a superintendent’s contract. Under the proposal, championed by State Superintendent Ellen Weaver, mutual separation agreements could not exceed one year’s salary or the remainder of the contract value, whichever is less.
The payouts that prompted the crackdown
The numbers tell the story lawmakers could no longer ignore.
In June 2021, Lexington-Richland 5 agreed to pay former Superintendent Christina Melton $226,368 to resign. The settlement was negotiated behind closed doors without a public vote, prompting a lawsuit from The State Media Co. that ultimately forced the board to approve the agreement publicly. Melton had been named South Carolina superintendent of the year just weeks before her resignation.
A year later, Lexington 2 paid Superintendent Nicholas Wade $240,000 — $60,000 above his $180,000 base salary — to end his contract nearly a year early. The district also picked up $10,000 in his attorney’s fees. Wade had served just one year on the job.
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Then came the biggest payout of all. In January 2023, Richland 2 Superintendent Baron Davis resigned after a nearly six-hour, closed-door school board meeting. The severance agreement handed Davis $615,000: a $415,518.68 lump sum, $124,481.32 for accrued sick and vacation leave and another $75,000 for unspecified “disputed claims.” Davis had received a contract extension through 2026 just four months before his resignation, at an annual salary of $254,681.
And in November 2024, Richland 1 announced Superintendent Craig Witherspoon would depart in June 2025 with a full year’s pay — his salary had been raised to $258,121 — plus accrued leave and six months of health insurance.
The summary above was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
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