SC teachers want to spend more time teaching. Lawmakers want to help
West Virginia native Mary Wasilewski loved her Florence County students.
But after 28 years of teaching special education in elementary and high schools, Wasilewski left the classroom in October, saying she was overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork, testing and lack of administrative support in her Florence District 1 school.
State senators expect to hear similar concerns Monday, when a Senate panel meets with education advocates to discuss classroom issues contributing to the public teacher shortage.
“I want to know the specific paperwork, and I want to hear, ‘Hey, get rid of this for us. Hey, this is an ultimate waste of our teachers’ and children’s lives,’ ” said state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, the Kershaw Democrat chairing the Senate Finance K-12 education meeting.
This week, Sheheen pre-filed a bill aimed at cutting down on state-mandated testing — for example, removing standardized testing requirements in social studies.
Sheheen’s bill was one of nearly 300 pieces of legislation pre-filed this week by senators. State representatives will pre-file legislative proposals next week. The session starts Jan. 8.
Of the pre-filed Senate bills, nearly 40 target education, including efforts to raise teacher pay beyond the Southeastern average.
“It’s clear the biggest hurdle to teaching is lack of money, and that lack of money results in losing teachers and crowded classrooms,” Sheheen said. “But this lack of time is resulting in teachers not teaching because they are filling out paperwork and they are teaching to the standardized tests. There’s nothing magic about high-stakes testing.”
Starting with a large State House rally in May, South Carolina teachers have warned lawmakers that more teachers will leave the classroom unless there is significant education reform during the upcoming legislative session.
The state already has lost Wasilewski, who suggested Friday that more legislators should visit struggling schools.
“Visit a classroom like mine” was, not schools overflowing with resources, she said. “See what it’s like day-to-day.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 3:34 PM.
