COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The South Carolina House isn’t just sitting around doing nothing with education as the South Carolina Senate spent their week debating a bill to overhaul public education without reaching a conclusion.
The House Education and Public Works committee passed a bill Wednesday that reduces the number of statewide standardized tests and puts more requirements on the standardized tests local districts can give their students - including requiring districts to inform parents about each test and send results to teachers and home with students within a week.
A similar proposal is inside the massive 60-plus page education bill the Senate debated for hours but didn’t take any votes.
Committee Chairwoman Rita Allison said House members are watching the Senate debate carefully. Senators took out some items House members want. The House will likely pass its own proposals in smaller, separate bills this year.
“We are looking to reinforce some other pieces of the overall 85-page bill that we sent over to the Senate,” said Allison, a Republican from Spartanburg County.
But the House also doesn’t plan to just wait and see what happens. Allison and House Speaker Jay Lucas toured the state after the 2019 session ended in May, meeting with teachers of the year from each district and hearing concerns about class sizes and reading programs that also will likely end up as House bills before the 2020 session ends in May.
“We do think think there is some betterment out there that needs to be made in education. We want to continue the conversation,” Allison said.
Lucas has shown a special interest in education improvements made in Mississippi, often wondering how the often-derided state is now leaving other Southern states behind in education improvement.
Lucas invited Mississippi State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright to be his special guest Thursday and speak to the House Education and Public Works Committee.
Wright’s visit will come one day after grassroots teacher group SC for Ed plans its lobby day. The group, which drew 10,000 people to a Statehouse rally for teachers last May, is asking supporters to wear red, meet with legislators and the governor, talk to reports and show their strength in numbers on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Senate has spent the vast majority of its time since starting the legislative session on Jan. 14 debating the education overhaul bill. Democratic Sen. Mike Fanning held the floor for most of the time. The Democrat from Great Falls is not happy with the bill in its current state and is encouraging amendments.
The Senate spent most of its week discussing if a teacher bill of rights should be added to its proposal. Teacher groups have said it is one of their key items, along with salary increases and reducing standardized testing.
Senate Democrats held a news conference before last Wednesday’s session vowing to fight any attempt to add a voucher system that would allow public money to be paid for private schools or services to the bill.
Lucas, often frustrated with how slow the Senate handles its business, attached a story about the Senate finally getting to the education debate on the session’s first day to a tweet: “355 days later, the debate begins in the Senate…”
___
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP
Please read our comment policy before commenting.