SC school teachers say they’re ready to take on lawmakers. Here’s what they want

A S.C. teacher’s association said Tuesday that it plans to push state legislators for at least a 5-percent pay raise next year for the state’s almost 50,000 public school teachers.

Another teachers’ group — still mulling its 2019 legislative agenda — said any pay proposal from them will be for enough money to push S.C. teacher salaries above the Southeastern average of about $52,000. That would require a 3-5 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the state’s Education Department said it might look at a multiyear approach to teacher raises, a proposal that S.C. lawmakers may see as easier to digest.

South Carolina’s teachers returned to work Monday, many saying they are ready to “use their teacher voice” when legislators return to Columbia in January and demand they include more money for a pay hike in the state’s 2019-20 budget.

Many of those same teachers — members of either the Palmetto State Teachers Association, which wants a 5-percent raise, or the S.C. Education Association, which wants the Southeastern average — have joined a new grassroots group, SCforEd, that has created a large social media following.

Higher pay will help address the state’s growing teacher shortage by aiding the state’s 82 school districts in recruiting new teachers and keeping veteran teachers after many were forced to retire this year, education advocates say.

Those same advocates say they also want the state to stretch its pay scale. Now, in many cases, that scale can make a veteran teacher’s salary equal to that of a teacher with fewer years in the classroom.

“Two weeks ago, I was in a (Lowcountry) school district, and they still needed 60 teachers — two weeks before school started,” said Kathy Maness, head of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. “We’re very concerned.”

This year, legislators approved a state budget that included a 1-percent pay raise for school teachers. They also agreed to give teachers $275 to buy supplies — for example, Kleenex — and increase starting pay for teachers to $32,000.

While appreciative, teachers were disappointed, said Sherry East, the new president of the S.C. Education Association.

“Most people are pretty angry about the 1 percent, to be honest,” East said Tuesday, outside Richland 1’s H.B. Rhame Elementary.

“No one goes into teaching because we’re going to get rich. No one goes into teaching because we’re going to have a second home in the Bahamas. But we do expect to be treated professionally with respect, and for some reason ... that’s eroded away.”

That frustration is unlikely to subside next year, East acknowledged.

But, she added, it is important to start addressing the teacher-pay issue, citing one young teacher who had told her that he will give teaching one more year.

“It’s his third year teaching.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 6:04 PM.