By Bill Davis, senior editor | A package of bills from the House dealing with a longstanding education equity lawsuit may hit the floor for debate next week in the Senate. It’s a piece of the good news for education in a state that still has major problems.
Those seven bills, set for subcommittee debate April 5, would change how the state deals with everything from high school graduation rates to when the state could take over a financially ailing school district.
The package of bills stems from a court decision on a two-decades-old case brought by poor school districts that sought more equitable education funding. The decision on the Abbeville case requires the General Assembly and school districts to come up with a funding solution to remedy the failure by the state to provide adequate public education opportunities, especially in poor, rural districts. The bill package passed by the House earlier this year is the product of a subcommittee specially called by House Speaker Jay Lucas (R-Darlington) last year.
State Sen. Wes Hayes (R-Rock Hill), who chaired a Senate subcommittee dealing with the lawsuit, said he expected the bills would be debated next week, even though the Senate has yet to put forward any plans of its own.
The House already passed a budget package to the Senate that included a nearly $150 increase per pupil in annual spending. If approved, it would swell the per-pupil amount to $2,350, some $500 more per student than it was four years ago. Current law requires a $2,700 per-pupil fund level, which is about $245 million more than in the House budget bill.
This proposed annual increase was close to what state Superintendent of Education Mollie Spearman (R) requested during budget hearings. If approved, it would reflect the second straight year that K-12 would receive a major influx of cash from the General Assembly. Last year, lawmakers opened the state’s , as it opened its wallet last year to pay for Gov. Nikki Haley’s early-grades reading enhancement programs.
“The House budget provides much needed funding to our districts to support our students,” Spearman told Statehouse Report through a spokesman. “Both the House and the Senate have closely studied the issues in the Abbeville equity case and taken steps to ensure that the state is able to not only provide additional financial support but also assist districts in building expertise to ensure every student has the opportunity to be prepared for lifelong learning, the workforce and citizenship.”
Additional state funding for bus drivers and teachers in the House plan also could have a big effect in smaller, poorer districts, freeing even more money for instruction and other needs, according to Spearman’s office.
Education Weekly, a leading education publication, increased South Carolina’s overall grade from a D+ last year to a C-minus this year, and placed eight states below South Carolina, including Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. But the report also gave South Carolina a D grade for K-12 achievement.
Next chapter of education is ahead
While many education observers and advocates are pleased by the positive news, some say that not enough is being done in some quarters by the state — and too much in others.
Debbie Elmore, spokesman for the S.C. School Boards Association, said the legislature should be applauded for initially setting aside more money in per-pupil funding.
“We are grateful,” said Elmore, adding that the proposed $2,350 is still $350 less (per pupil) than what is required by state law. “We still haven’t made up the lost ground from mid-year cuts in 2008 when the state was in the throes of the recession.”
For most of the past 25 years, the General Assembly has skirted fully funding K-12 education with special one-year laws, called provisos, that supersedes state law for a short period of time.
Hayes said the mood of the Senate seems to be to match the per-pupil amount.
Elmore also saw a few problems with the House’s Abbeville package. In some of the bills, especially one dealing with fiscal practices, there could be more layers of responsibility for struggling districts, rather than more state help.
“It’s a mixed bag, in that it’s great there’s more money, but it doesn’t do enough” to handle the facility crises faced by communities with a lower ability to fund major capital projects, such as new schools, she said.
Many of the districts included in the original Abbeville lawsuit have lower tax bases than others and have a harder time updating facilities, building new schools, and in some cases. offering competitive wages to teachers.
Currently, Spearman and the rest of the Department of Education, have no legal path to intervene, take over or prop-up a school district unable to pay its bills, according to her office. A few years back, the department took over an Allendale County school district, but that was for educational attainment issues, not money.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to says it’s a big year for public education, with the legislature likely allocating more funding,” said Bernadette Hampton, president of the S.C. Education Association, which advocates for teachers.
But Hampton said the state has more work to do to make sure every district can offer $40,000 in starting annual salaries across the state. She said that would solve much of the state’s “teachers shortage” through recruitment and retention.
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