SC Senate poised to pass education bill after 8 weeks of filibuster
After roughly eight weeks of debate, hundreds of amendments and a teacher group and state senator calling for the bill’s death, state senators are expected to adopt a massive education bill.
Second of three readings on the bill could happen as early as Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers near the end of what has been a lengthy debate over the legislation its supporters say will address problems in the state’s public education system.
But the bill’s passage is far from certain.
Once adopted, the bill returns to the state House, where it will begin the committee process. The House passed its own education bill last year, only to see it languish in the Senate.
Senate Education chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, told reporters after the Senate adjourned Tuesday that he felt better about the legislation than when it first landed in his committee last year. But he said that a successful 25-19 bipartisan provision tacked onto the legislation that would eliminate one of the state’s levels of oversight for education is a “terrible idea.”
“It’s a step backwards for education in South Carolina,” Hembree said about the amendment that would eliminate the state’s Education Oversight Committee as of July 2021. The EOC is charged with overseeing report cards and student testing.
That could be a point of contention when House and Senate members meet to negotiate the bill, Hembree said.
“We’ve got to study it because we have no idea what they’re going to send us now, so as soon as we study it in depth, we will set a full committee meeting and start working on it as we would any other piece of legislation, holding hearings ... and then try to move on it,” said state Rep. Rita Allison, R-Spartanburg, who chairs the House education committee that would take up the Senate proposal.
“We’re going to work on it. We’re certainly not going to fly through it,” Allison continued. “We want to know what is in it, because it’s been an ever-changing situation and not knowing exactly what they’ll end up with. We will certainly do due diligence on it.”
Waiting on the Senate, the House has passed three separate pieces of legislation over the past few weeks, including a provision that would eliminate certain student standardized tests — provisions included in the massive education legislation.
“Those were very intense pieces of legislation, and we thought very meaningful,” Allison said. “We feel that something (legislation) needs to be out, and I think the state feels that way, teachers and all.”
Teachers, in particular, have been frustrated over the Legislature’s failure to address what they say are serious problems that hurt their ability to teach students in the classroom. Grassroots teacher group SC for Ed, which held a 10,000-person march on the State House grounds last spring to advocate for higher pay and better working conditions, has been the most vocal — along with support from state Sen. Mike Fanning — to kill the bill.
After a filibuster that took up half of the Legislature’s session, Fanning finally proposed one last amendment on Tuesday.
“Eighty-four pages of things we decided like spaghetti to throw against the wall to see if it sticks and if it’s done,” said the Fairfield Democrat. “This bill stunk when we started. It stinks now. There’s no vision in the bill. You ask me what’s wrong with the bill, I ask you in three words to tell me what does this bill do.”
When the debate over the bill is done, Fanning continued, he asked what senators will tell their constituents.
“What on earth do you say to your constituents that we’re accomplishing in this 84-pages of garbage that stunk when we started and it stinks now. And what are we doing about it? What’s the action? What steps are we taking?” Fanning asked.
“Mr. President,” Fanning directed at Senate President Harvey Peeler, “I yield the balance of my 10 minutes to you.”
This is a developing story. Check back this afternoon for details.
