GOVERNOR SANFORD IS "REVIEWING" TERI ISSUES
Governor Mark Sanford is "reviewing" issues pertaining to the Teachers and Employees Retention Incentive (TERI) program, according to the governor's education policy advisor.
On December 2, The SCEA President Jan McCarthy asked for clarification of the governor's position on TERI, noting that rumors regarding the program's potential elimination were rampant. A bill proposing to eliminate the employee benefit was filed last session by Sen. Greg Ryberg, and a second was pre-filed in December by Rep. Herb Kirsh.
A response came on December 18, not from Sanford but from Dennis Drew, the governor's new education policy advisor. The full text of Drew's letter is reprinted below:
"Dear Ms. McCarthy:
"Thank you for your recent letter to Governor Sanford regarding the TERI Program.
"The Governor's Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance presented recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly and the citizens of South Carolina for their consideration. Governor Sanford welcomes input on budget priorities and is carefully reviewing all sides of the issue. His Executive Budget will be available prior to the legislative session.
"Again, thank you for writing, and if we may be of service in the future, please let us know.
"Sincerely,
Dennis Drew,
Education Policy Advisor"
Indeed, the governor's MAP Commission issued its recommendation on September 30 that TERI be eliminated. Questions posed by The SCEA sought to determine whether Sanford intends to push for a "fast-track" disposition of the recommendation, and whether he will seek to make its elimination effective immediately (upon his signature of the bill) or beginning with the next fiscal year on July 1.
In her letter, McCarthy noted that the TERI benefit offers an incentive to veteran educators who might otherwise retire after 28 to 30 years of service in public schools. "The importance of retaining qualified veteran teachers cannot be overstated," she said, offering the following rationales:
1. The projected stream of graduates from college and university education programs is insufficient to meet the demand of ever-higher enrollment in public schools.
2. Greater demands of higher standards and accountability -- reflected in state and federal legislation -- and their practical impacts on the workload of classroom educators, in addition to non-competitive salaries and benefits packages, are driving qualified teachers out of the classroom and into the private sector. The S.C. Department of Education has documented that more than 90,000 men and women hold teacher certification in South Carolina, but fewer than half of them currently teach.
3. National and state studies demonstrate that students taught by qualified, veteran educators score higher on standardized tests, which now form the basis of state and federal accountability models.
McCarthy noted that the state salary schedule for educators includes only 22 steps, so veteran educators receive no guaranteed rise in salary after the 22nd year of their service to schools.
"The TERI incentive is available to educators in their 28th year of service and, while it is not a true salary increase, it represents to many veteran educators a significant new benefit of salary. Indeed, The SCEA members worked to educate lawmakers during debate on the measure and we view the TERI program as an employment benefit. For many, this incentive provides an important reason -- for some, the single most important reason, given ever-increasing demands and expectations -- to remain in the classroom," she said.
In her inquiry, McCarthy suggested that The SCEA would be happy to review amendments that might improve or refine the present provisions of the benefit plan and might support such amendments, but would oppose wholesale elimination.
Kirsh's bill, filed last month, does not offer any substitute proposal to encourage veteran educators and public school employees to remain in employment. Neither does the bill propose a substitute benefit -- such as a strengthened State Health Plan, a higher employer contribution to employee retirement accounts, or a guaranteed cost-of-living adjustment for retirees -- to replace the TERI benefit.
CONTACT LAWMAKERS TO PRESERVE TERI
Educators and public school employees have only a few days to contact lawmakers before the January 13 opening of the legislative session. Below are some facts to share:
It is The SCEA's position that the TERI program is successfully addressing the need for which it was designed and implemented, offering an incentive to veteran educators and public school employees who might otherwise retire after 28 to 30 years of service in public schools. This position is held also by the S.C. State Employees Association, the S.C. Retired Employees Association, the S.C. Association of School Administrators and others. Testimony to this point was given in August to a subcommittee of Sanford's Management, Accountability and Performance (MAP) Commission, but this testimony was not reflected in the commission's recommendation to the governor on September 30.
The TERI program's associated costs do not presently impact the state's retirement system. The state retirement system's executive director, Peggy Boykin, suggested in August that if the legislature will invest in that system with additional direct appropriations or through an increased employer contribution for retirement, there is no reason that TERI should negatively affect the retirement system in the future.
The SCEA has offered to review any amendments to improve or refine the provisions of the TERI program, and the association is willing to support those amendments that do not substantively undermine TERI's present purpose. We do not support wholesale elimination of the program.
DATELINE JANUARY 8, 2004
GOVERNOR'S BUDGET: JOB & PROGRAM CUTS, NBC FREEZES, NO NEW REVENUES
Governor Mark Sanford released an "executive budget" proposal this afternoon that proposes to balance the state's $5.1 billion budget by consolidating agencies, eliminating a raft of personnel positions and programs and "selective privatization" of state properties.
While saying that education is his "top priority", Sanford proposes to fund a base student cost of $1,810, more than $420 per student less than the base student cost defined by the Education Finance Act and identified by the Board of Economic Advisors for 2004-05. Sanford praised his planned appropriation for per-pupil state spending, saying it was more than was funded by the General Assembly for 2003-04.
But Sanford ruled out any suggestion of new revenues in 2004. "Will some people lose their jobs? Yes. That's the reality of a budget shortfall," he said. "These are tough budget times and they force these decisions."
"Everything is give versus take in our budget," Sanford added. "These are our priorities."
Among Sanford's education priorities for the 2004 legislative session were the following, as identified in his "executive budget":
- Fund 960 newly-eligible teachers for National Board Certification in 2004, but freeze funding of new entrants' application fees and annual stipends after December 2004. (Page 60-61)
- Expand and encourage new charter school openings (Page 50) and provide a universal tax credit -- a euphemism for school vouchers -- for private school tuition, home-schooling expenses and costs associated with attending an out-of-district public school. (Page 51)
- Make the Superintendent of Education a political Cabinet position appointed by the Governor rather than elected by -- and answerable to -- South Carolinians. (Page 48)
- Devote an additional $20 million in lottery proceeds to the base student cost, although statutes governing the expenditure of lottery proceeds clearly states that proceeds should be used for new education programs, not recurring expenses. (Page 53)
- Create a block-grant system of school funding through passage of Sanford's SMART Funding proposal, which replaces the current line-item model of school funding in the legislative budget process. (Page 54)
- Close the 200-year-old John de la Howe School in McCormick and transfer its students to the Wil Lou Gray School in West Columbia. (Page 57) At the same time, reduce by 15 percent the budgeted funding for travel, meals, registration and phone expenses at Wil Lou Gray School. (Page 63)
- Cut budgeted funding for travel, meals, registration and phone expenses at the Department of Education by 15 percent, with savings directed to the base student cost. (Page 59)
- Use federal bailout funds received in 2003 to add to the base student cost. (Page 59)
- Shift more than $22 million from National Board Certification funding to the base student cost. (Page 59)
- Cut the budgeted funding for the Department of Education administration by 10 percent, targeting specifically the Superintendent's Office, the Board of Education, Curriculum Services and Assessment, Professional Development and School Quality, District and Community Services, and Governmental Affairs. (Page 59)
- Cut the following programs and direct their budgeted funding to the base student cost: South Carolina Aquarium Curriculum Development, Archives and History, SAT Prep Bonus, Principal Mentors, Character Education, Adult Education, DPS School Bus Safety, the Archibald Rutledge Scholarship and others. (Page 60)
- Move the administration of the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind under the administration of the Department of Education, (Page 34), cut administrative funding to the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind by $364,000 and direct these funds to the base student cost for students attending the school. (Page 64)
- Sell approximately 6,000 of the state's 20,000 Motor Fleet vehicles and direct the proceeds to the employee benefits program "to reduce future increases in health insurance premiums for state employees". (Page 247)
- Reduce funding (or make mid-year cuts permanent) in the following programs, and direct this amount to the base student cost (Page 268- 292):
-- Advance Placement, -$119,500
-- Tech Prep, -$194,000
-- Art Curricula, -$73,000
-- Local School Innovation, -$2 million
-- Governor's Institute of Reading, -$1.3 million
-- Teacher Grants, -$1.3 million
-- Homework Centers, -$93,800
-- Teacher and Principal Specialists, -$600,000
-- External Review Teams, -$4 million
-- Retraining Grants, -$1.8 million
-- Academic Assistance, -$5.5 million
-- Four-Year-Old Early Childhood Education, -$1 million
-- Bus Driver Salaries, -$21,000
-- Teacher of the Year Award, -$7,900
-- Teacher Quality Commission, -$570,000
-- Teacher Supplies, -$481,266
-- Professional Development, -$6.6 million
-- Professional Development NSF Grants, -$138,000
-- School Improvement Councils, -$188,700
-- Teacher Recruitment, -$277,477
In sharp contrast to the proposed cuts to the Department of Education, Sanford recommends no cuts to the budgeted funding for operation of the State House or State Senate, the Legislative Council, the Legislative Printing and Information Technology Systems, and the Legislative Audit Council. (Page 215-218) While he suggests a 15 percent reduction in travel, meals, registration and phone expenses budgeted for the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) (Page 225), which is overseen by his office, Sanford proposes no reduction to the budget for the Governor's Mansion and Grounds. (Page 226)
WHAT ABOUT TERI?
In his remarks to media this afternoon, Sanford said his office will ask legislators to eliminate the second payout of annual leave given to state employees enrolling in the Teachers and Employees Retention Incentive (TERI) plan. But the governor did not say he would seek elimination of the program itself, and there is no reference to the TERI plan in the governor's 300-page budget proposal.
DATELINE JANUARY 9, 2004
McCARTHY: GOV.'S PLAN IS "MALICIOUS TO CHILDREN'S FUTURES"
The SCEA President Jan McCarthy issued a statement today on Governor Mark Sanford's budget proposal to the 2004 General Assembly, calling the plan "woefully inadequate" and identifying a gap between the administration's statements and actions on education funding.
The text of McCarthy's release is printed below:
For Immediate Release
January 9, 2004
Contact: Jan McCarthy, 803-551-4130
Governor's Plan Postpones Progress in Education
COLUMBIA-- The budget proposal offered on Thursday by Governor Mark Sanford shifts an economic recession to an education recession and undermines the progress made by South Carolina to improve teacher quality and student achievement, says The SCEA President Jan McCarthy.
"It's woefully inadequate, and it's offensive to the hard work our children, parents and educators have devoted to improving public education in our state," McCarthy said. "It puts our children's minds on a shelf and suggests that we wait for better economic times to invest in progress again."
Sanford admitted to the media during a press briefing that his plan would cost the state jobs in education and elsewhere but didn't estimate how many. Despite proposing a base student cost of $1,810 per child, the governor asserted that his plan maintains public education as its highest priority.
"There is a wide gulf between this administration's rhetorical support for public schools and its actual support for public schools," McCarthy said. "Talk is cheap. Providing even a minimally adequate education for every child costs money, and the Board of Economic Advisors has identified the figure: $2,234 per child."
"Legislators in Georgia and North Carolina appropriate more than twice that amount for their students. What do their lawmakers know that ours refuse to understand?" she asked.
On Wednesday, Education Week magazine gave South Carolina its highest ranking in the nation for teacher quality for the second year in a row, and it awarded South Carolina an "A" for its standards and accountability model, which has contributed to five straight years of the highest gains in student achievement on standardized test scores in the nation.
"We have made great strides in bringing South Carolinas public schools into the 21st century, and these high marks for teacher quality, student achievement and our standards and accountability reflect that," McCarthy said. "To deliberately seek the reversal and destruction of that progress is malicious to our children's and our state's futures."
Among Sanford's proposals are cuts in funding for four-year-old early childhood education, adult education, professional development programs and teacher supply funds. He also seeks to eliminate the incentive for teachers to seek national board certification by freezing state funding for application fees and stipends.
But Sanford proposes to create a "universal tax credit", a form of voucher for private and parochial school tuition and home-schooling expenses. McCarthy said that the education community is united behind full funding for public education and against any scheme to drain public funds from public schools.
"Rather than experimenting with programs already found to make no real difference in student achievement, South Carolina and its lawmakers should focus on making sure that all students have the tools they need for success," McCarthy said. "We know what works."
DATELINE JANUARY 14, 2004
SENATE PURSUES AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT AGAIN
An amendment to strengthen the nature of at-will employment in South Carolina re-started the Senate's debate on employment this afternoon, prompting Sen. Kay Patterson to attack the measure and the cause for the new statutes.
In recent years, state courts have ruled that grievance procedures published in employee handbooks carried the weight of law, whether or not those procedures were expressly included in an employment contract. Business leaders asked the legislature to tighten state statutes to prevent this legal interpretation and protect industry from litigation, and legislative leadership answered the call.
The SCEA, working with Sen. Kay Patterson in March 2003, successfully amended a bill in Senate; the amendment ensured that classified public school employees would continue to have grievance procedures as published in handbooks distributed by school districts.
The amendment offered today -- co-sponsored by Sen. Glenn McConnell, Sen. Larry Martin, Sen. Verne Smith and Sen. Billy O'Dell -- would have replaced the text of the original bill, stripping the new guarantees of public employee protections. As Martin explained the new amendment, Patterson took to the floor.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," Patterson declared. "You already have 'at-will'. Anytime you don't like somebody, you show 'em the door. They're the first ones you ship to Iraq and they're the ones that come back in pine boxes and plastic bags."
Patterson continued, "What's this going to do to bring industry to South Carolina? You already got the lowest-paid jobs in the universe. You must work for the Red Cross, 'cause you act like you're looking for blood. You're trying to kill the labor unions? Hell, you ain't got any labor unions in South Carolina."
Referring to his advocacy for public employees in 2003, while being treated for cancer, Patterson reminded his colleagues, "I got up here when I was sick and talked against 'at-will'. I'm well now, so you know I'm going to talk against it now. I'm back. I'm back."
Noting that Martin explained that a group of Senators worked on the present amendment through late last year, Patterson asked, "'We' worked on an amendment? What 'we'? I guess I'm not part of 'we'."
Patterson's complaints led McConnell and others to postpone debate on the new amendment until tomorrow.
The SCEA opposed the original 'at-will' employment revision adopted by the House in January 2003 and pursued the successful amendment protecting public employee rights. Because the new amendment strips those guarantees and does not offer any substitute guarantees, The SCEA asks Senators to oppose the new amendment.
HOUSE SUSTAINS SANFORD VETO OF SCHOOLS' FUNDING
The State House today sustained a veto by Governor Mark Sanford that strips $150,000 from the current-year operating budget of the John de la Howe School in McCormick and almost $120,000 in current-year funding from the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School in West Columbia. The funding cuts are effective now, as Sanford issued a veto of the school's line items in the 2003-04 budget but after the General Assembly adjourned last June.
The House voted to override certain other vetos of budget line items and could have voted to override these vetos. Several House members sought to protect funding for these schools but were unsuccessful.
Votes on the attempts to override Sanford's veto of funding for John de la Howe and the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School will be included in the 2004 Legislative Report Card.
DOE SEEKS TEACHER SPECIALIST REVISIONS FOR ALLENDALE
Department of Education Government Affairs Specialist Molly Spearman asked members of the Education Subcommittee of House Ways and Means for additional funding to allow teacher specialists to continue their work for a sixth year in Allendale County schools.
Spearman made the request as part of a series of budget proviso requests by the Department and said that Allendale's schools were making progress, in part because of the ongoing work of teacher specialists.
"We believe we can show you progress in Allendale. We're certainly not where we want to be but we've made progress," she told lawmakers.
The department's goal in Allendale is to bring all of the district's schools off of the state's "unsatisfactory" list, she explained.
Rep. James Battle of Nichols (Marion County) empathized with Spearman's rationale for teacher specialists. "Allendale is like a lot of rural communities. It's hard to get teacher specialists to go there," Battle said. "You can't pay them enough to go there because there's no movie theater, no restaurants, nothing to do there."
The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Roland Smith of Aiken County, will continue its review of budget provisos for public schools tomorrow morning.
DATELINE JANUARY 15, 2004
STUDY OF REGIONAL SALARY AVERAGE AVOIDED
A study to identify South Carolina's ability and effort to fund educator salaries at or above the southeastern average was requested by the Education Oversight Commission this morning, but a subcommittee did not approve the request.
Jo Ann Anderson, executive director of the EOC, made the request as part of the commission's list of proviso recommendations to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education and Special Schools. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Roland Smith and includes Rep. James Battle, Rep. Bill Cotty and Rep. Shirley Hinson.
Anderson noted that because bonuses paid to teacher- and principal-specialists and national board-certified teachers are included in the average South Carolina educator's salary, the state's average figure was skewed. As a result, South Carolina educators are likely being paid below the average in neighboring and regional states.
Hinson opposed studying the state's ability and willingness to pay salaries at the southeastern average, declaring that such a study's results would only incense educators when there are "enough problems".
"We know we're not paying the southeastern average and we haven't got any money to give any raises," Hinson said.
Hinson also voiced opposition this morning to a request made yesterday by the Department of Education to fund teacher specialists in the Allendale school district for a sixth year. Because of the demands placed on such specialists, they are paid fifty percent above their normal salaries to serve in schools that qualify for technical assistance. Hinson questioned the motives of specialists who remain in these schools longer than the original time limits, implying that specialists might seek to remain in the assignment to earn greater compensation.
"Time limits were put in there purposefully," Hinson asserted.
"We have to remember that if we have five people in a school and they can stay there indefinitely, we might not ever see the improvement that we want to see," she said. "I know and you know that in failing schools is where you ought to see record achievement. It's when you're in the top schools that it's difficult to improve."
Cotty echoed Hinson's desire for immediate results and suggested that the state should impose more stringent consequences on schools that do not demonstrate quick improvement, including state takeover. "I know the state doesn't want to take over any more school districts but gosh, I want something to happen," he said.
SENATE POSTPONES AT-WILL DEBATE
With Sen. Kay Patterson prepared to continue his defense of public employees and their grievance rights, the Senate postponed its debate on at-will employment statute revisions until next week.
In the 2003 session, Patterson worked with The SCEA to win approval of an amendment guaranteeing the grievance rights of classified school employees whose rights are outlined in a school district employment handbook. An amendment proposed on Wednesday would strip that specific language and other language from statute revisions sought by the state's business community. Patterson -- and other Senators -- assure The SCEA that they will fight efforts to remove the clearly-stated guarantees of rights for education support personnel and other public employees.
STATON RE-ELECTED EOC CHAIRPERSON
Robert Staton was re-elected to a second two-year term as chairman of the state's Education Oversight Commission in a full meeting of the body this afternoon.
Under the 1998 statute that created the commission, the EOC may not be chaired by an educator. Its chairperson must be one of the five business-community appointees who sit on the commission.
An EOC chairperson may serve two consecutive terms in the position. Staton's second term will end in 2006.
DATELINE JANUARY 20, 2004
CUTS APPROVED, GOVERNOR'S BUDGET REVIEWED
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on K-12 Education approved a raft of provisos that effectively cut or withhold funding from a variety of education programs and initiatives this morning, and denied funding requests from the Department of Education in other cases.
Rep. Shirley Hinson of Berkeley County moved to table the department's request to extend funding for a sixth year of teacher specialists in targeted schools. Subcommittee chairman Roland Smith of Aiken County and Rep. James Battle of Marion County voted with Hinson, leaving Rep. Bill Cotty of Richland County to oppose the motion.
Later, without comment on the matter, Cotty moved to table a request to fund a study of South Carolina's ability and willingness to fund average teacher salaries at the southeastern average. Hinson seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Hinson did not vote, however, on the question of funding average educator salaries at the southeastern average, though the measure was adopted.
John Robinson, executive director of the South Carolina Association for Rural Education, spoke in support of a proviso to maintain funding for the Palmetto Achievement Awards for improvement in SAT tests scores. In 2003, 12 high schools won cash awards for making the greatest gains in scores on standardized tests, including Lincoln High School and Lewisville High School in Chester County, Indian Land High and Andrew Jackson High in Lancaster County, Landrum High School in Spartanburg 1, Lockhart School in Union County, Lee Central High School in Lee County, A.C. Flora High in Richland County, Hemingway High in Williamsburg County, Denmark-Olar High in Bamberg 2 and St. John's High in Charleston County.
"It's a bigger issue than just awarding money," Robinson said. "As these schools improve their SAT scores, many of their students are becoming Palmetto Scholars. Taking away the money would be detrimental to rural schools."
"We understand that schools want to get these awards," Hinson told Robinson. She added, "I'm going to be very careful with what I say because it certainly gets on the news very quickly."
Hinson then seconded a motion by Cotty to eliminate $150,000 in funding from the Palmetto Achievement Awards and to add that amount to boost the base student cost under the Education Finance Act, in accordance with recommendations from Governor Mark Sanford's budget proposal.
The pair also acted to deny a joint request from the department and the Education Oversight Commission for $488,000 to assign new student identifiers (numbers) to South Carolina's pupils. Cotty asked Molly Spearman, the department's government affairs liaison, how the department proposed the legislature should fund the proviso.
"We'll leave that to your wisdom," Spearman said. "It should be a priority because of new requirements in 'No Child Left Behind'. It will help us track students and dropout rates."
Hinson echoed Cotty's opposition. "Respectfully, Molly, it's up to you to find the money," she said, and voted to table the proviso, denying the request.
In the same meeting, House Ways and Means aide Philip Willis outlined highlights of the governor's budget proposal to lawmakers. Sanford's budget proposes to fund the base student cost at $1,810 per student in 2004-05, but the subcommittee could choose to identify and fund a greater investment, Willis said.
"Whatever dollar amount the subcommittee chooses to put in the line item determines what the base student cost will be," he explained. "If the subcommittee chose to fund the Department (of Education)'s request, totaling three-hundred-some million dollars, the base student cost would be $2,234."
Willis reminded the subcommittee of Sanford's proposal to eliminate funding for new certifications by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards after 2004. "Teachers will no longer be eligible after December 2004 for application fees," he noted.
Among the highlights in the governor's education priorities for the 2004 legislative session were the following, Willis noted:
- Devote an additional $20 million in lottery proceeds to the base student cost, although statutes governing the expenditure of lottery proceeds clearly states that proceeds should be used for new education programs, not recurring expenses.
- Close the 200-year-old John de la Howe School in McCormick and transfer its students to the Wil Lou Gray School in West Columbia. At the same time, reduce by 15 percent the budgeted funding for travel, meals, registration and phone expenses at Wil Lou Gray School.
- Cut budgeted funding for travel, meals, registration and phone expenses at the Department of Education by 15 percent, with savings directed to the base student cost.
- Shift more than $22 million from National Board Certification funding to the base student cost.
- Cut the following programs and direct their budgeted funding to the base student cost: South Carolina Aquarium Curriculum Development, Archives and History, SAT Prep Bonus, Principal Mentors, Character Education, Adult Education, DPS School Bus Safety, the Archibald Rutledge Scholarship and others.
- Move the administration of the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind under the administration of the Department of Education, (Page 34), cut administrative funding to the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind by $364,000 and direct these funds to the base student cost for students attending the school.
- Reduce funding (or make mid-year cuts permanent) in the following programs, and direct this amount to the base student cost (Page 268- 292):
-- Advance Placement, -$119,500
-- Tech Prep, -$194,000
-- Art Curricula, -$73,000
-- Local School Innovation, -$2 million
-- Governor's Institute of Reading, -$1.3 million
-- Teacher Grants, -$1.3 million
-- Homework Centers, -$93,800
-- Teacher and Principal Specialists, -$600,000
-- External Review Teams, -$4 million
-- Retraining Grants, -$1.8 million
-- Academic Assistance, -$5.5 million
-- Four-Year-Old Early Childhood Education, -$1 million
-- Bus Driver Salaries, -$21,000
-- Teacher of the Year Award, -$7,900
-- Teacher Quality Commission, -$570,000
-- Teacher Supplies, -$481,266
-- Professional Development, -$6.6 million
-- Professional Development NSF Grants, -$138,000
-- School Improvement Councils, -$188,700
-- Teacher Recruitment, -$277,477
HOUSE ED SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERS ECON. DEV'MENT CURRICULUM
The House Education Committee's Subcommittee on K-12 Education heard discussion of a revised version of the "South Carolina Education and Economic Development Act" this afternoon but took no action on the measure. SCEED is a proposal by the state chamber of commerce that would overhaul the state's high school curriculum, focusing all programs around a set of 16 "career clusters" and re-aligning curricula "to bring real-life problems into the classroom".
Fred Kotoske, a franchise owner of Taco Bell, was one of several businessmen who spoke in favor of the proposal Kotoske told Chairman Bob Walker's subcommittee, "This bill is good for the business community. You drive revenue to the bottom line if the workforce is there. If you don't do this, you'll lose business in this state."
"Kids are not raised with values and standards, with discipline," he added. "This bill starts very early with awareness, grows more intense in middle school and even more in high school."
Rep. Jesse Hines asked for clarification for the bill's intent to begin career preparation so early. "So this starts in elementary school?" he asked.
"It starts when the child is born, from the very beginning," Kotoske said.
SCEED may be reviewed online at the General Assembly's website, www.scstatehouse.net, by searching for House Bill 3714.
SENATE MAY CONSIDER AT-WILL AMENDMENT WEDNESDAY
According to a co-sponsor of a new revision of the state's at-will employment statutes, the Senate may continue its debate of the matter on Wednesday. Sen. Larry Martin told The SCEA today that new language was being drafted that may allay the association's concerns regarding guarantees for classified public employees' due process and grievance rights.
DATELINE JANUARY 21, 2004
CUTS CONTINUE; DE LA HOWE DELETED FROM PROVISOS
Several more budget provisos were addressed by Rep. Roland Smith's K-12 Subcommittee of House Ways and Means this morning, with more funding cuts being adopted and references to the 200-year old John de la Howe School in McCormick being deleted from the budget documents.
Changes to funding for incentives for certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards were held up by Rep. Bill Cotty, who told the subcommittee that interested parties "don't have a consensus".
"Hopefully by the end of next week, we'll know whether they want to keep it, amend it, end it, delete it," Cotty said.
Unless subcommittee members are persuaded otherwise, it is likely they will adopt Governor Mark Sanford's proposal to end funding for NBC application fees for candidates and annual stipends for national-board certified teachers. Sanford's proposed language reads, "No teacher acquiring National Board Certification after December 31, 2004, shall be eligible to receive the $7,500 salary supplement" but forgives any loans or interest made to teachers who have not completed the NBC process by December 31, 2004.
The subcommittee voted also to delete a proviso authorizing a study of the effectiveness of national-board certified teachers "in improving student outcomes". Such a study was initiated by the Department of Education last year, as directed by the legislature, although no funding was appropriated and the department was forced to use existing program funds for the purpose.
By a vote of three to one, with Cotty dissenting, the subcommittee authorized the Department of Education to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to privatize the state's school bus operations. The group unanimously voted to cut funding from the Department of Archives and History's program assisting schools and educators in primary research and study of historical works, and from the Charleston Science and Math Center for curriculum development at the S.C. Aquarium. Revenues "saved" from deleting this funding will be devoted to the base student cost.
Each of these provisos was recommended by Governor Sanford in his budget proposal to the legislature.
Finally, the subcommittee voted to fund a study by the Department of Education of the effectiveness of half-day kindergarten for four-year-olds, particularly the program's impact on achievement in later grades.
Strangely, the subcommittee adopted draft language for a proviso identifying the 2004-05 base student cost, language which spells out the federal, state and local contributions to per-pupil expenditures in South Carolina. Adoption of this draft language is odd because the proviso has never before included a reference to federal and local contributions, but more so because the state contribution is identified as $4,316 per student -- well in excess of the $2,234 per student recommended by the Board of Economic Advisors in accordance with the Education Finance Act, and more than twice the state contribution adopted -- though not funded -- by the legislature in 2003.
Committee staffer Philip Willis reminded the subcommittee members that the figure was subject to change as projections were revised later in the budget process. After the meeting, Willis told The SCEA that the figure was a "projection" generated by the Board of Economic Advisors, but he said he didn't know how the BEA arrived at the projection or what considerations were included in it. His office has requested clarification, Willis said.
The draft language assumes that the state's K-12 student population will total 666,932 pupils; that the federal contribution will be $759 per student and that the local contribution will be $4,569 per student, for a total of $9,644 per student in per pupil spending.
Assuming that funding is made available at this level, local district contributions will still outpace state contributions to education funding on average, with districts providing 47.38 percent, the state providing 44.75 percent, and the federal government offering 7.87 percent of the total.
Smith's subcommittee will meet at least once more, either Thursday or early next week. Several provisos are still to be considered, including the governor's intent to eliminate funding for the state's School Improvement Councils. The councils were created in conjunction with the Education Finance Act in 1977. More than 16,000 educator, parents and community leaders serve on the state's councils, which now number more than 1,100.
The SCEA intends to publish a total of education-related funding cuts when the subcommittee concludes its work and presents its recommendations to the full House Ways and Means Committee.
CHAMBER WINS SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVAL OF SCEED
The House Education Committee's subcommittee for K-12 education has approved a proposal by the state chamber of commerce to overhaul the state's education curriculum to include "employment orientation" beginning in elementary grades. The "South Carolina Education and Economic Development Act" proposes to focus all education programming around a set of 16 "career clusters".
The bill will go to the full House Education Committee as early as next week, according to Rep. Bob Walker, the subcommittee's chairman.
Walker's subcommittee, which includes Rep. Don Smith, Rep. Jimmy Neal and Rep. Bill Whitmire, heard from a handful of business leaders yesterday and continued its deliberation today.
SCEED proposed a comprehensive re-alignment of the state's public school curriculum to include and emphasize career orientation. (The bill exempts private and home schools from implementation of its provisions.) At its heart is an intent to prepare students for employment upon high school graduation.
Provisions of SCEED include the following:
-- An Education and Economic Development Project Office would be created within the Department of Education, and an Education and Economic Development Coordinating Council, a body similar to the Education Oversight Commission would be established.
-- A "Comprehensive Developmental Guidance and Counseling Program Model" would be implemented in elementary and middle schools, providing students with awareness of employment issues beginning in the first grade, requiring career assessments in middle schools and including business-interactive programming in secondary schools.
-- All students would be required to select a major -- now alternately called a "preferred cluster of study" and "area of academic focus" -- by the end of the eighth grade, with counseling from a "career development facilitator" and with parental involvement.
-- Of 16 "career clusters" identified and defined by national business entities, each secondary school would be required to offer curricula opportunities in at least three, with schools free to implement as many of the clusters as their districts will fund. Cluster examples include architecture and construction; manufacturing; marketing, sales and service; and transportation, distribution and logistics.
-- The Department of Education would be required to implement career development plans for education professionals in career guidance that provides awareness, training, release time and preparatory instruction.
-- The department would be required to "revise high school graduation requirements to fit the career cluster system" and to collaborate with school districts to ensure that students identified as potential drop-outs have "individual graduation plans" that reflect career counseling included in IEPs.
-- The SCEED Coordinating Council would be comprised of the Superintendent of Education and fifteen appointees of the governor, Speaker of the House, the Senate President Pro Tem, the chairman of the state's Commission on Higher Education, and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Five appointments may be made by the state Superintendent of Education, but only a representative of business and industry appointed by the governor could serve as chairman.
-- Education degree programs at South Carolina's public colleges and universities would be required to revise their instruction of future educators to include career guidance, the use of "career cluster" curricula and elements of career guidance.
-- Local district boards of education would be required to develop policies addressing character education, incorporating character traits that include respect for authority, cooperation, patriotism, good work ethic, cheerfulness and patience.
Chairman Walker praised the bill but suggested that an alternative to the standard high school diploma -- he proposed an "apprentice degree" -- might be necessary to prevent more high school dropouts. Giving employment counseling might keep more students in school, but requiring them to pass the high school exit exam might defeat the purpose, he suggested.
Rep. Don Smith agreed, suggesting, "We need to look at finding ways for these students to graduate from high school without passing the exit exam."
Regarding questions about the requirement of eighth-graders to adopt a major or "area of academic focus", Walker explained, "A lot of our foreign countries make their decisions at the eighth grade."
"We're not saying it's locked in stone and they can't come back and change it," Walker said.
AT-WILL AMENDMENT STILL ON CALENDAR
The Senate did not address a new revision of the state's at-will employment statutes today but the item remains on the chamber's calendar.
DATELINE JANUARY 22, 2004
SETZLER CORRECTS RECORD ON ED ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Sen. Nikki Setzler of Lexington took to the floor of the Senate this afternoon for nearly a half-hour to correct an impression left by Governor Mark Sanford's State of the State address that South Carolinians had little to show for its increased investment in public schools during the past 30 years.
In last night's speech to the General Assembly, Sanford named education as his administration's fourth-highest priority, after (1) his efforts to include the voices of citizens in his administration, partly through his "Open Door After Four" on Wednesdays, both in Columbia and on-the-road, (2) a focus on the economy and the need for wealth creation, namely through his proposal to lower state income taxes, and (3) his plan to restructure government, centralizing greater power in the office of the governor.
Sanford observed that funding for public education has increased 130 percent during the past three decades, yet the state's SAT scores remain 49th in the nation. The governor did not mention any other indicators of progress measured by the state's public schools.
Setzler addressed that slight with impassioned remarks from the Senate well. Following are excerpts from those remarks, the full content of which will be published in the Senate journal.
"We are at a crossroads with a number of issues important to our state but foremost is education. I support the push toward economic development but in order to achieve that, we have to have the human capital, an educated public. I have and will continue to work with the governor on things we agree on; I have signed on as a co-sponsor of his re-structuring plan even though there are some things in it that I don't agree with. But I have to be likewise candid about two concerns.
"I commend the governor for making specific recommendations in his budget. But I am a supporter -- I make no apologies -- of public education in South Carolina. We have accomplishments we can be proud of. Are they enough? No. There is work to be done. But we have made accomplishments.
"We've raised teachers' salaries to the southeastern average plus $300. That is an accomplishment of this General Assembly and previous administrations. We've created the Governor's School for Math and Science, and the Governor's School for the Arts in Greenville.
"I started in the Senate as a member of the Senate Education Committee under Chairman Harry Chapman, and we passed the EIA (Education Improvement Act) in 1984. That included investment in gifted and talented programs, adult education programs, class size reduction programs. We passed full-day kindergarten in 1993.
"National board certification passed when we had only 14 or 15 teachers certified, and now we have almost 4,000. That's an accomplishment. Is it enough? No, but it's something we can be proud of.
"In 1998, at the urging of the business community, we passed standards and accountability. It was a controversial piece of legislation and we said to the business community, will you leave us once we pass this? They said no, they would stick with this, walk with us hand in hand, and they did. They delivered computers to schools all over the state because it was important. Is there more to do? Yes, but that was an accomplishment we should all be proud of.
"We passed First Steps. We got public participation like we've never had for anything else, accomplished by citizens. There's more work to be done, but that's an accomplishment. We passed a huge bond bill by one vote.
"We're into the 21st century, and we need to act and move like we're in the 21st century.
"Just two weeks ago, Education Week ranked South Carolina highest in the nation in raising teacher quality. Our fourth-grade proficiency in reading has doubled. Our student scores on the SAT have seen a 38-point increase in just four years, 29 points over the national average. Our testing and accountability model has been ranked 11th best in the nation by the Princeton Review Board.
"We have joined hands in this Senate across lines, across races, across sexes to improve public education. I am committed to fight with every breath in my body to continue that progress. It's a lifelong journey, not a destination. I find it difficult when we don't fund the Education Finance Act but we talk about funding other things are twice the cost."
Echoing Setzler's remarks to varying degrees, several Senators followed him at the podium in focusing on the progress made in public education. Sen. Verne Smith of Greenville noted, "We've done more for education in the last 30 years than we'd done in the last 300 years."
"We have to invest in ourselves before we can expect others to invest in us," said Sen. Phil Leventis of Sumter. "An increase of 2.3 times the funding over the past 30 years doesn't represent even keeping up with the inflation rate. Let's be sure we've got our facts right: In order for us to grow, we have to invest in public education."
Sanford's perspective and proposals were defended by some, however. Sen. Greg Ryberg of Aiken said the governor's budget was "bold, refreshing, and a new day".
"As we dwell on the terrible picture we face, remember that our schools get funding from several sources," suggested Sen. David Thomas of Greenville, drawing attention away from the low state contribution to the EFA's base student cost and toward local and federal funding.
Sen. Hugh Leatherman of Florence, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, opined to colleagues that "this is going to be the toughest budget year in the 23 years I've been here. We've begun with a $350 million deficit."
Responding to questions of estimates from the Board of Economic Advisors suggesting a slight increase in revenue in 2004, Leatherman said, "A BEA estimate is a guess, at best."
AT-WILL AMENDMENT STILL ON CALENDAR
Although Senate leaders intended to address a new revision of the state's at-will employment statutes, the long discussion of the governor's speech pushed the item to Tuesday's agenda.
New draft language circulated by Sen. Larry Martin includes the amendment won in last year's session by The SCEA and Sen. Kay Patterson which guarantees the protection of published grievance rights for education support personnel. The SCEA thanks Martin and Patterson for their work to include this language in the new revision, and we will support their efforts to maintain those guarantees through the debate on the bill next week and thereafter.
DATELINE JANUARY 28, 2004
PRESSURE SAVES SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL FUNDS
Governor Mark Sanford's proposal to eliminate funding for the state's School Improvement Council (SIC) was sidelined this afternoon after Rep. Joel Lourie and SIC representatives pressed a subcommittee for 45 minutes to save the program. Finally, a budget proviso eliminating funding for this and two other education initiatives was amended to exclude the SIC from the proposed cuts.
"With all due respect, I appreciate the governor's desire to make these programs self-sustaining, but I serve on two of these councils and can speak to this program's value to improving our public schools," Lourie told Rep. Roland Smith's House Ways and Means subcommittee. Lourie is not a member of the subcommittee but appeared to speak in favor of the SIC program.
Lourie reminded subcommittee members that the councils were established in 1977 as part of the Education Finance Act, and that more than 17,000 South Carolinians currently serve on approximately 1,100 local councils. The boards -- made up of public school educators and administrators, parents and students -- help to implement state accountability reforms and to write schools' annual reports to parents.
"This is only $188,000," Lourie continued. "By adopting this proviso, we're forcing each school to have an SIC but stripping away the mechanism for trainings of parents and others. If you doubt me, pick up the phone and call your local elementary school, or middle school, or high school, and they'll tell you what an integral part these councils play."
SIC Executive Director Jean Norman told the subcommittee that the statewide council is required to provide accountability trainings and strategic planning to local councils by the General Assembly. "We don't have the staff to go out and fundraise," Norman said. "If you take this funding from us, we go away."
Rep. Shirley Hinson of Berkeley County noted that she once served on a local council, "but I never saw anything from the School Improvement Council that couldn't have come from a school."
"I don't think the governor wants the School Improvement Council to go away," Hinson said. "I do think we want it to become what it already is at the local level: volunteer."
Late in the discussion, Smith appeared ready to vote for the funding elimination. "We're doing all that we can to cut costs and we're not pleased to even be discussing this issue. The governor's making proposals increase the base student cost and this is one of those things we're looking at," he said.
Under further questioning, Norman noted that the SIC has already streamlined its services to cut expenses. The SIC doesn't duplicate services provided by any other state agency, and one statewide training conference was eliminated in favor to six regional training conferences, to save travel expenditures.
"All of our face-to-face trainings, everything we do has been put in print or put on video so that all SIC members have access to these basic trainings and services. These are basic to everybody," she said. "To zero-out this office is to deny that there are services that need to be delivered."
Rep. Bill Cotty of Richland County said he, too, had served on a local council when his daughter was a public school student. When he joined the council, Cotty said, "I found out how little I really know about education statutes."
Cotty signaled that he would break from his subcommittee colleagues this afternoon if they voted to eliminate the council's funding. "The School Improvement Council is the safeguard, the conscience, the grapevine by which information is shared with the community," he said.
Cotty moved to divide the proviso's references to its three education programs so that funding for School Improvement Councils, the South Carolina Geographic Alliance and a writing improvement initiative might be voted upon separately. Ultimately, the group agreed to amend the proviso by removing references to the SIC and the Geographic Alliance, effectively saving their funding but eliminating funding for the writing improvement initiative.
AT-WILL AMENDMENT STILL ON CALENDAR
The Senate did not address the new revision of at-will statutes still pending on its calendar.
New draft language circulated by Sen. Larry Martin includes an amendment won in last year's session by The SCEA and Sen. Kay Patterson, which guarantees the protection of published grievance rights for education support personnel. The SCEA thanks Martin and Patterson for their work to include this language in the new revision, and we will support their efforts to maintain those guarantees through the debate on this bill.
DATELINE JANUARY 29, 2004
SUBCMTE KEEPS $6 MILLION FROM DOE BUDGET
A request to reconsider its vote to strip almost $6 million from the Department of Education's operating expense account was humored this afternoon but ignored.
Governor Mark Sanford's budget proposal included a proviso to take about $5.8 million from a catch-all line item in the department operating expenses budget, and that proviso was adopted by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee for K-12 Education last week. Molly Spearman, the department's government affairs liaison, asked the subcommittee yesterday to reconsider its decision, and the group allowed Spearman to speak briefly on the point.
Today, Spearman brought Deputy Superintendent Elmer Whitten and John Cooley, DOE Director of Budget Development, to explain that these funds were necessary for cash-on-hand operations during the transition from one fiscal year to the next. The line item includes an assortment of smaller, dedicated accounts that pay for expenses from school bus fuel to drivers' salaries, to textbook repairs to the FBI's fingerprinting service for newly-hired teachers, Whitten explained.
In addition, funds that flow through the department -- such as grants awarded by private institutions for specific projects, and income derived from sales of license plates promoting public education -- are included in this line item, he said. These funds are not unused carry-overs from one fiscal year to next, but funds that flow into the department's budget in June for use in July or thereafter.
For a moment, Rep. Bill Cotty of Richland County appeared to understand the department's dilemma. "I don't want to call this a slush fund," he said. "I understand the need for cash-on-hand accounting."
Rep. Roland Smith of Aiken County, the subcommittee chairman, asked Whitten how the department would absorb the loss of the $5.8 million if the subcommittee stuck with its approval of the governor's original proviso and did not vote to restore the funds.
Fingerprinting services provided by the FBI, service by the state's school bus drivers and fuel for school bus operation in July and August would have to be paid out of other funds within the department, including Education Improvement Act (EIA) funds. The alternative, Whitten said, was to lay off transportation employees statewide.
"In that case, we'll go from having one mechanic for every 30 buses to having one mechanic for every 45 or 50 buses," Whitten said. "Our mechanics are doing as much as they can do already."
Despite the plea, Cotty remained "unmoved", he said. Smith opened the floor for a motion but neither Cotty nor Rep. Shirley Hinson of Berkeley County spoke, leaving their earlier decision to stand. (Rep. James Battle of Marion County, the fourth member of the subcommittee, was absent.)
NO REPRIEVE FOR WRITING IMPROVEMENT NETWORK
The subcommittee was also asked to reconsider its decision to eliminate funds from the state Writing Improvement Network (WIN). The program was one of three whose funding was subject to cuts in yesterday's subcommittee meeting; of the three, the network was the only program whose funding was eliminated.
Its director, Christy Clonts, appealed to the subcommittee today for support. WIN has been funded for 10 years by the General Assembly and provides professional development to teachers who teach writing skills. The program has served more than 12,000 teachers in 760 schools, Clonts said, including training programs offered statewide, regionally or at individual school sites.
Test scores of students in school served by WIN have increased by 30 percent, compared with the statewide average increase of 27 percent. At the same time that budget cuts have reduced the WIN staff from seven to three, Clonts noted, the number of students and schools served by the program has increased.
Despite the presentation of the program's effectiveness, the subcommittee took no action on this plea, leaving its earlier decision to stand.
AT-WILL AMENDMENT STILL ON CALENDAR
The Senate did not address the new revision of at-will statutes still pending on its calendar.
New draft language circulated by Sen. Larry Martin includes an amendment won in last year's session by The SCEA and Sen. Kay Patterson, which guarantees the protection of published grievance rights for education support personnel. The SCEA thanks Martin and Patterson for their work to include this language in the new revision, and we will support their efforts to maintain those guarantees through the debate on this bill.
DATELINE FEBRUARY 3, 2004
COPE WILL SUPPORT RYBERG COLA BILL
Representatives of the South Carolina Coalition of Public Employees (COPE) expressed their support this morning for a proposal by Sen. Greg Ryberg to guarantee an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retirees.
The SCEA is a member of COPE, which includes organizations of active and retired public employees. More than 375,000 South Carolinians are employed by, or retired from, state or municipal governments.
COPE Treasurer Sam Griswold told Ryberg today, "We're concerned that budget shortfalls are causing other entities to raid the retirement fund, and there appears to be few opportunities for recipients of retirement benefits to have any input whatsoever in decision-making"
Since the South Carolina Retirement System was founded, the system has afforded annual COLAs to retirees, but state statutes include a loophole that contemplates no payment of COLAs. Ryberg's bill eliminates that loophole, effectively guaranteeing an annual COLA under the law.
A guarantee of COLAs is one of COPE's three-part legislative agenda, which also includes a five-percent salary increase for all public employees in 2004-05, and restoration of health insurance coverage benefits as those benefits existed in 2002.
Ryberg's bill enjoys bipartisan co-sponsorship in the Senate, but he asked COPE members to seek aid from House members to draft a companion bill in that chamber. Passage of a COLA guarantee by the House, where the annual budget proposal originates, will improve the likelihood of similar passage in the Senate.
AT-WILL AMENDMENT STILL ON CALENDAR
The Senate did not address the new revision of at-will statutes still pending on its calendar.
New draft language circulated by Sen. Larry Martin includes an amendment won in last year's session by The SCEA and Sen. Kay Patterson, which guarantees the protection of published grievance rights for education support personnel. The SCEA thanks Martin and Patterson for their work to include this language in the new revision, and we will support their efforts to maintain those guarantees through the debate on this bill.
