COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - This year’s legislative session in South Carolina started out with high hopes for a massive overhaul of the education system in South Carolina.
It will likely end in two weeks with a torn down bill stalled in the Senate after a potentially divisive teacher rally next week on a school day.
The House passed an 84 page bill in March, which gave the state education superintendent more ability to take over low-performing school districts, created a $100 million fund to help bring businesses to places where schools are poor and struggling, and created a student ’bill of rights’ as well a new Zero to Twenty Committee that would oversee education from pre-kindergarten to universities.
But teachers mobilized online against the proposal almost immediately, saying House Speaker Jay Lucas and other leaders did not listen to them. They wanted a 10 percent raise, smaller class sizes, a guaranteed 30-minute break to eat lunch and use the bathroom away from children, and more counselors and other support staff.
The largest of the new groups - SC for Ed - is calling for teachers to take a day off from school Wednesday for a march on the Statehouse. North Carolina teachers are holding a walkout rally the same day, and it’s a similar tactic that has been done in other states like Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia with at least moderate success.
More than 1,000 teachers have signed an online pledge, saying they will wear red and converge on the capitol.
“For over a decade educators in this state have been continuously pushed aside and neglected as we give our best to the students we love so dearly including the clothes off our backs, the money in our wallets, the love in our hearts and the tears in our eyes,” SC for Ed said in its statement calling for the rally.
McMaster and legislative leaders are warning teachers that pressure isn’t the way to solve their problems. The governor reminded teachers there is a 4 percent raise in the budget that passed the House and Senate.
“Teachers leaving their classrooms sends the wrong message to students, unnecessarily disrupts schools, and inconveniences their students’ working parents,” said Brian Symmes, a spokesman for McMaster.
House Education Committee Chairwoman Rita Allison understands teachers are frustrated. But she said civil discussion, not a walkout, is the way to reach agreement.
“They are trying to make a statement. I understand that. I’m not sure that statement will be favorably taken across the state by parents,” said Allison, a Republican from Lyman.
Meanwhile, the senator tasked with handling the education overhaul proposal in the Senate said Wednesday he doesn’t think the bill can pass before the General Assembly’s regular session ends May 9.
The Senate took the House’s big bill in bites. They held 15 meetings and four public hearings across the state and trimmed more than 30 pages from the proposal. Gone are the new oversight committee, the student bill of rights, and tax incentives for businesses that gave teachers summer internships.
“That piece of legislation has been on a diet. A successful diet and it’s much lighter,” Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree said. “I know it focuses on some of the more important concepts in the original bill that can hopefully make South Carolina a stronger education system.”
The Little River Republican said there is not enough time to fully debate the bill in 2019. This is a two-year legislative session in South Carolina, so the bill will pick up in January wherever it finishes this session.
There could be even more pitfalls next year. Some lawmakers want to make huge changes in how South Carolina pays for schools, which could involve shifting taxes around. A report on the state’s education funding formula first passed more than 40 years ago is expected after this session ends. Additionally, all House and Senate members are up for reelection next year.
Some senators have sided with teachers that the bill was drafted and passed too quickly without enough input. Allison said that is wrong. She said House members working on the bill have spent years visiting schools, interviewing anyone who would speak to them, and carefully crafting the legislation.
“I think there has been a lot of misinformation and erroneous information. This has been a process of four years or more by the House of Representatives,” Allison said.
Lucas has been thinking about education reform almost since he was elected speaker five years ago. He said the delay by the Senate has harmed students.
“This is the year to bring meaningful education reform to South Carolina. Having the bill killed under the guise of deliberative review is unacceptable. Our students cannot afford any more delay,” Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville, said in a statement.
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