By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | The S.C. Senate is expected to continue a debate on an omnibus education package next week, entering into floor challenges on school starting time and private school vouchers.
Hours after teachers convened at the Statehouse on Wednesday, senators said no to an amendment that would have established a Teacher Bill of Rights that offered legal action for violations after days of debating the proposal.
The final version of the Teacher Bill of Rights in the Senate’s education bill, S. 419, looks similar to the House’s original version in its education package.. It creates a list of rights that school districts should aim for but offers no legal recourse for teachers.
Senate Education Chair Greg Hembree, R-North Myrtle Beach, and Isle of Palms Republican Sen. Chip Campsen were among the majority opposing making it legally actionable.
“I agree with all those statements (to be aspirational) but as far as having a cause of action flow from those principles that could be problematic,” he told Statehouse Report.
Hembree said it will keep “dollars in the classroom instead of the courtroom.”
Former teacher and Great Falls Democratic Sen. Mike Fanning said the Senate “slapped teachers in the face and flipped them off” when it came to the bill of rights.
“The Senate does not want teachers to have these rights,” he said.
S.C. Education Association President Sherry East said making the rights actionable is “the whole point” of protecting teachers and giving them autonomy over their classrooms.
Another amendment this week expanded scholarships to education majors in an effort to increase teacher recruitment.
Moving on
Now, the Senate is moving onto other sticking points in the education debate. According to Hembree, senators on Tuesday will address some smaller issues in the bill, which remains on special order without a super-majority vote to get to other bills on the Senate calendar.
Hembree said he expects the issue of earliest start date for school in the summer to come up again Wednesday. Currently, state law requires schools to start before the third Monday in August, and the bill seeks to change that to the second Monday in August. Some arguing for an earlier start time or allowing local control say schools struggle to get in the required instructional time before winter break in South Carolina.
Fanning said he expects an amendment that would allow local control over when to start school.
Another big issue next week could be school choice, Hembree said. Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis told The State earlier this month he would push for an amendment that would offer public assistance to low-income students for attending private schools, much like the state’s current voucher program for students with disabilities.
East told Statehouse Report that should private school vouchers become a part of the big bill, the organization will join grassroots SCforEd in its calls for killing the bill.
Meanwhile in the House
The S.C. House of Representatives is set to pass next week a standalone bill seeking to establish a Teacher Bill of Rights. The bill has similar aspirational language that does not include legal action steps like the Senate’s amendment.
On Thursday the House unanimously voted for second reading on House Bill 4753, one of the many standalone bills House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, plans to send the Senate in an attempt to repair pieces stripped from the original House education bill passed in 2019.
“Desire for additional support from school administration, more uninterrupted planning time, less unnecessary paperwork and a competitive salary are just a few of the top issues I heard directly from teachers time and time again,” Lucas said in a statement. “The teachers of our state have been talking, and we have been listening. I am confident that this bill is a good first step to ensuring some of the top concerns of our teachers are heard and addressed.”
After second reading on Thursday, the House gave unanimous consent for third reading when session reconvenes Tuesday. Its fate is unclear with the Senate’s added language in S. 419.
Co-sponsor and Greenville Republican Rep. Ashley Trantham said there will be more such standalone education bills from the House.
“This is one of many youre going to see that we’re going to send through. It’s in an attempt to get something. If we wait for (the Senate) to finish what they’re doing … we’re going to end up getting nothing or it’s going to take so much time,” she said.
Trantham added: “We have teachers sitting here watching and hoping they’re going to get some relief.”
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