Rex: "Third world" schools unacceptable

More political courage is needed by the state’s 170 lawmakers if they are to fix the state’s ailing public education system, state Superintendent Jim Rex told members of Columbia’s Rotary Club Monday.

Rex said state lawmakers often tell him they want to stand up for public education but are afraid of being targeted by powerful groups in their home counties.

Rex said that within an hour’s drive of Columbia, there are public schools that look like something in the “third world.”

The state’s 700,000 young people in public schools will be the dominant population in the state, so it makes sense to spend money on them, Rex said.

A “tsunami” of bad consequences is rushing toward South Carolina if it does not raise public education standards, he said.

From staff reports