COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two state lawmakers who sponsored a $1.5 million budget earmark for an Upstate Christian organization that has announced plans to build a residential school with the money claim the project has been misrepresented. They insist the nonprofit is not actually building a private educational institution, and one said he would not have supported the constitutionally-dubious allocation of state funds to it if the money had been for a school.
State Reps. Mike Burns, R-Greenville, and John McCravy, R-Greenwood, said Christian Learning Centers of Greenville County, which provides free Bible instruction to public school students, simply plans to use the money to construct a new facility to house its existing operations.
The organization, which operates out of a building it shares with a pediatric dentistry practice on Pelham Road in Greenville, needs a new facility because its current lease is expiring and won’t be renewed, Burns said Wednesday.
