Superintendent candidates have their say

By Anna Mitchell  

APRIL 14, 2010 10:55 a.m. (1)

The line dividing conservative and liberal candidates running for the state’s top education position is private-school subsidies.

Six of the eight men and women running for South Carolina Superintendent of Education showed up Tuesday night at a two-hour candidate forum at Furman University’s Younts Conference Center. Three of the five Republicans were there, along with both Democrats and the Libertarian candidate.

Of the six, four embraced tax credits or vouchers to parents who want to enroll their children in private school – calling that true choice. All the candidates had deep ties to public education as advocates for reform, parents, educators and/or policy makers.

The two Democrats – attorney Frank Holleman of Greenville and former USC dean Tom Thompson of Columbia – said taking money away from public education was not the way to improve test performance and graduation rates or bridge the gap in achievement between the middle class and poor.

The three Republicans – Furman political science professor Brent Nelsen, Newberry College President and retired Brig. Gen. Mick Zais and Charleston area developer and business owner Elizabeth Moffly – proposed plans that to various degrees tie state education dollars to the child rather than to a school district.

Then there was Libertarian social studies teacher Tim Moultrie of Lexington who advocated a flat sales and services tax for education, eliminating the property tax, equal distribution of education dollars among all students across the state and vouchers. Those who advocate for choice within public education – that is, magnet schools, charter schools, virtual courses and traditional assignments – are in effect saying “you can eat whatever you want as long as it’s at McDonald’s,” he said.

He said grade inflation in school districts across the state is a dirty secret he wants exposed. Students at his school in Richland School District 1 cannot be assigned a grade lower than 60 – his computer is programmed to prevent him from keying in a “59.”

Republican candidates Gary Burgess, former superintendent of Anderson School District 4, and Kelly Payne, a social studies teacher in Richland School District 5, were not there.

Holleman drew the most applause from the packed house at Furman – heavily loaded with professors and education majors – when he said choice within public education was crucial.

The Furman graduate who attended public schools in Seneca said he supported public education as “the most important institution in our Democracy.” Holleman has deep ties to former Gov. and U.S. Education Secretary Dick Riley, with whom he served in Washington, D.C., forming national education policy. He also helped launch Graduate Greenville, a dropout prevention initiative and the state’s First Steps to School Readiness program.

“You can’t be an advocate for putting more money in the classroom and at the same time push to take money out,” he said of the voucher proposals.

Holleman also said the state’s historic poverty rate was key to the gap in achievement. Early childhood programs for 4 and 5-year-olds are key.

“Everybody know the gap doesn’t start in the first grade but when the child first arrives,” Holleman said.

Thompson, a former educator and longtime high-level official with the South Carolina Department of Education, called funding private schools at the expense of public education  a “bad idea at a bad time” given the economy and historic cuts to education funding in South Carolina.

Forecasts for the coming school year place per-pupil funding at almost $1,000 below where it stood at the opening of the 2008 school year.

Thompson said he was in a position through ties to USC and the state department and districts to build coalitions needed in the state to create “first-class, world-class” education. His platform is tied to building safe schools with terrific teachers, aggressively engaging the business and wider community and upgrading school facilities statewide.

“We need 85 school districts working together,” he said. “I see them as a chain, and they are only as strong as their weakest link.”

Nelsen, the son of educators, pointed out South Carolina’s 48^th ranking on SAT scores and 61-percent on-time graduation rate as evidence the state needs someone with a vision for fundamental changes – someone from the outside who nevertheless is committed to public education.

He said his 17-year-old son Derek has benefited from public-education choice, taking videography classes at Greenville’s Fine Arts Center, core classes at Greenville High and another class online with the state’s Virtual School. But he said he also supports a private-school scholarship program that businesses can contribute to in exchange for a tax credit – a program in effect in Florida since 2001.

Nelsen also supports a teacher-pay system that identifies high-demand areas such as math and the sciences with higher salaries, not unlike the pay variations in effect on college campuses across the country.

“Starting pay for a business-school professor is more than what most professors earn in the political science department,” said the teacher of world politics and international political economies.

Mick Zais spent 31 years in the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point. He was trained to jump out of airplanes, volunteered to serve in Vietnam and subsequently served in Kuwait and Kosovo. He has headed up Newberry since 2001 and helped bring the college from the brink of dissolution to a listing as one of the region’s best in U.S. News and World Report.

He said his experience in the classroom at West Point, success as a leader and record of achievement make him the best candidate.

With spending per child in South Carolina public schools averaging $12,000 ($300,000 per classroom) and teachers earning roughly $40,000, a lot of money is getting lost in administration and overhead, he said.

“It’s the students’ money,” he said, adding that he supports tax breaks to low-income families and businesses wanting to support private-school education.

Moffly, the owner of a 25-stall equestrian barn and a commercial fishing dock on Shem Creek, said she decided to run back in 2006 as she witnessed the continuation of bad policies. That was when she sat on the transition team brining current Superintendent Jim Rex into office.

At that time, she recommended the creation of an Office of School Choice, which today houses support programs for public Montessori, charter, magnet, alternative, online and single-gender schools and tech college dual-credit.

She said graduation rates are largely a product of South Carolina’s credit requirements – which are as high or higher than every other state. This, she said, affects perceptions in the business community and industries considering a move to the state. She advocates a dual diploma system with a vocational track and fewer required credits and a uniform grading scale that makes a “69” a C rather than an F.

“School is supposed to be relevant to real life,” she said.

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Paige Lewis  - School Reform   |2010-04-26 06:47:38 So many good points were made in the forum. Adequate funding is a basic need, but beyond that, high standards are also a basic need. When all districts in the state receive equal funding and enforce high standards, S.C. education will improve drastically. Then, we won't see parents clamoring for vouchers so that they can abandon the public school system. Restore discipline to the classroom. Arresting a child has replaced paddling because teachers and administrators feel powerless. Classrooms need adequate supplies, and teachers need adequate support from the community, the administration, and, most importantly, parents. Use a ten point scale: 59 is failing. Some students will fail. That is reality. Grade inflation is unethical. Social promotion is unethical. Student must earn their grades, whatever they may be. The low quality of education in areas such as Orangeburg and Florence is shameful. I know this because I t... Reply

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