Burgess: Focus on teaching and learning

By Gary L. Burgess Sr.

PENDLETON, S.C. — The big government, status quo, tax and spend, liberal wing of the Republican Party will be in control of preK-12 public education in South Carolina once the new state superintendent-elect is sworn into office.

This group, along with their Democratic friends, decried and belittled our outgoing fiscal conservative Republican State Superintendent, Dr. Mick Zais.   Zais was opposed by this group because he fought the status quo and would not go along with their strategy of asking for more money under the pretense of helping children of color and children in poverty. Zais demanded that children be well-educated because he believes in his heart that children of color and children in poverty must be educated without excuses. He did not conflate wealth with academic achievement. In other words, if you are poor, you cannot achieve academically and if you live in certain parts of the state, you are damned.

Under Zais, indicators of academic success are up across South Carolina for all student groups, including on-time graduation. The number of failing schools have dropped dramatically, while the number of excellent schools have soared significantly.

The big government liberals, Democratic and republican, will continue to preach that more spending equals better academic outcomes, particularly for students of color and students in poverty (this plays on our heart strings). However, the empirical evidence flies in the face of that argument.  In fact, during the recession as spending declined, academic success improved in South Carolina’s public schools.  Zais proved that academic success is not tied to reckless, over-the-top spending. He stood against the status quo and the defenders of let’s do things as they have always been done. Zais understood that academic success is tied to letting teachers do their jobs, meeting all students where they are academically, while lifting them to where they are expected to be.

It is my hope that our new superintendent-elect, who is a good person, capable administrator and skilled politician, along with the education establishment of South Carolina, will focus on teaching and learning rather than borrowing and spending. It is my hope that she will deal with the root cause of why students of color and students in poverty fall behind as Zais did, without concluding that poverty is the determining issue. Many poor students black, brown, red, yellow and white achieve academically.

It is my hope that our superintendent-elect possesses the intestinal fortitude to stand up to those organizations she once worked for and those organizations she once represented and demand that the status quo be rejected. Reject the idea that more money for the sake of spending more money equals better academic outcomes. Our new superintendent- elect must focus on teaching and learning as Zais did.

Pendleton resident Gary L. Burgess Sr. , who came in fourth in last year’s eight-way GOP primary for state superintendent of education, is a member of the Anderson County Board of Education.