When will SC lawmakers start listening to SC’s teachers?

Eight months ago an unprecedented 10,000 South Carolina teachers rallied at the State House in opposition to the education reform bill written by bureaucrats and career politicians with no input from teachers.

Fast forward to today — days into the reconvening of the 2020 legislative session — and suddenly there are some members of the Senate scrambling to make this bill the highest priority of the legislative year.

Yes, you read that right.

Just eight months after thousands of teachers pleaded with legislators to slow down the process of approving this bill — and to consider the concerns of South Carolina’s teachers — the state Senate wants to ensure that passing this bill is our top priority.

I appreciate the Senate Education Subcommittee’s willingness to hold public hearings across the state last year; because of its efforts an 84-page House education reform bill has become a 64-page Senate education reform bill (S.419). But while some changes have been made, South Carolina’s teachers are still telling us that this bill is not the solution to our educational challenges.

While increasing teacher pay was one part of the message delivered during last May’s rally, state educators were quick to raise other concerns besides low teacher salaries.

Teachers want to be respected.

They want a seat at the table before policy is debated.

They want us to see what they do each day and ask them what is and isn’t working.

They want us to support them in the classroom, and then get out of the way.

They want us to lower class sizes.

They want us to drastically reduce high-stakes, standardized testing and bureaucratic “accountability.”

They want us to shrink the curriculum.

They want us to address poverty, which is the No. 1 indicator of student success. Teachers know that all students — including those living in poverty — can succeed academically. But research shows that students in poverty need access to additional “wraparound” services like mental health counseling, nurse care, safety measures, meals, emotional support, parent education and an increase in after-school programs.

Unfortunately, the policies that our teachers believe are important aren’t included in the 64 pages of canned bureaucratic solutions that are in the proposed education reform bill..

Instead the bill will:

▪ Decrease the number of South Carolina students who are eligible to receive the Palmetto, LIFE and HOPE college scholarships.

▪ Remove all references to our state teacher salary schedule, which has historically served as a barometer for making sure legislators are held accountable for teacher pay.

▪ Take away the current requirement to pay teachers at the average level for instructors in the Southeast.

▪ Massively increase the number of third-grade students who will be retained and required to repeat Grade 3.

▪ Make it easier for out-of-state, private for-profit companies to run multiple schools in a district.

▪ Increase the state’s ability to take over schools and districts despite zero evidence that these takeovers work or have long-term benefits for students.

▪ Require teachers to work five more days each year.

The list of negative effects goes on.

For years teachers have asked legislators to streamline an overly bureaucratic education governance system; instead this bill bolsters it.

My colleagues are obviously not listening to me. But when will we ever listen to our state’s teachers?

State Sen. Mike Fanning is a former high school social studies teacher who represents District 17, which covers Chester, Fairfield and York counties

This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 3:34 PM.