Midlands teacher whose group rallied thousands at State House to run for SC schools chief

The founder of a prominent South Carolina teacher advocacy group has announced her candidacy for state superintendent of education.

Blythewood High School teacher Lisa Ellis, a board member and founder of nonprofit SC for Ed, said Friday in a news release posted to Twitter that she will seek the Democratic nomination for state schools chief to succeed Superintendent Molly Spearman.

Spearman announced last year she would not seek reelection in 2022.

A campaign launch announcement said Ellis plans to file her candidacy Monday.

SC for Ed has been one of South Carolina’s most visible teacher advocacy group in the last three years.

The group launched a historic march of an estimated 10,000 teachers and education advocates in 2019 at the State House calling for better pay and working conditions for teachers.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the group helped lead protests calling for virtual-only classes until cases decreased.

The superintendent oversees the S.C. Department of Education, which issues guidance to schools on COVID-19 safety, translates state laws into policy recommendations for schools, tracks school test scores and progress, distributes grants and more.

Ellis will join a crowded field for superintendent of education.

At least one other Democrat, state Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, has filed to run on the Democratic ticket. Gary Burgess, a former Anderson County district superintendent, has announced he plans to run but as of Friday has not filed his candidacy.

Five Republicans have filed to run for the statewide seat: Sheri Few, Kizzi Gibson, Kathy Maness, Ellen Weaver and Lynda Leventis-Wells.

Few, who ran for the position in 2014, is a parent activist who has fought to “eradicate” critical race theory in schools. Gibson is a Lexington teacher who sits on the board for two virtual public charter schools. Maness is a former teacher and executive director of the state’s largest teachers organization, Palmetto State Teacher Association. Weaver heads the conservative think tank Palmetto Promise Institute and has been a major school choice advocate. Leventis-Wells is a Greenville County school board member who has a background in education and law enforcement.

This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 9:13 AM.