CENTRE — Last week, the Cherokee County Commission stepped in to save the Board of Education and keep the Career and Technology Center open for the 2011-12 school year. What happens after that has been left up to the voters.

Commissioners Carlton Teague, Kimball Parker, Elbert St. Clair and Wade Sprouse voted unanimously Friday morning to levy a one-year, one-cent sales tax that estimates say will raise around $1.7 million annually. The move came after the Board of Education, citing dwindling financial support from the state Legislature, voted to enact a "reduction in force" plan that cut nearly $1 million from its operating budget by firing 15 teachers, reducing contracts for other employees, and closing the Career and Tech Center campus in Centre.

Support for a funding solution that would keep the Tech Center open grew rapidly in the days after the Board voted on July 5 to enact the cuts due to a sustained budget shortfall from the state. Cherokee County has seen its share of education dollars from Montgomery dwindle by 23.5 percent (around $5.6 million) since the recession began in 2008.

A public rally in Leesburg put together by teachers and concerned parents drew a crowd of around 200 several days after the cuts were passed by the Board. When the Board met again a few days later, on July 19, hundreds lined the streets outside the meeting as dozens of students and parents waited their turn to address Board members and plead for a financial solution that would reopen the Tech Center.

On Friday, July 21, Probate Judge Melvyn Salter publicly proposed a one-cent sales tax be passed to save the school.

Lawyers for the county and Board spent the next several days hammering out a deal that Salter had suggested meet several conditions, including agreements by the Board to reopen the Tech Center and drop an ongoing lawsuit against the county over operating funds.

The Commission called a public forum for Tuesday night and heard from a crowd of over 200 that ran around 4-to-1 in favor of doing something to save the Tech Center. At a meeting the following night, with Salter out of town on business, Commissioner Teague chaired a meeting that proposed the sales tax be enacted for one year, assuming the Board members were amenable to a list of conditions, all of which had initially been proposed by Judge Salter.

“These are tough times for all of us,” Teague said after voting alongside his fellow commissioners to seek the tax hike. “But we have to look at the children of the county. That Tech Center is very viable for our county and we need to keep it open. That’s what we’re here tonight trying to do.”

Earlier that day, Johnson had spoken with The Post to voice his full support for the Commission's efforts.

“I think anything we can do, working with another government agency here in our county, is something we’d be more than willing to do,” Johnson said. “I know this is a very difficult decision for the county commissioners to make.”

The Board met the following night and unanimously accepted the Commission's parameters for enacting the sales tax.

Friday morning, the Commission met briefly, making only one amendment to the earlier agreement -- the proposed date for a public referendum to determine the fate of the sale tax past the 2012 Fiscal Year was moved up from next June to March so the county could save money by holding the vote during the primary election cycle.

The Board of Education will meet Monday and Tuesday to begin the process of rehiring teachers, posting open positions and reopening the Career and Tech Center for the upcoming school year.

What happens after this year to the sales tax -- and possibly the Career and Tech Center -- will ultimately be up to the voters of Cherokee County.