Department of Education Spends $333,791 on Consultants in May

“Of course everyone gets a fair deal!”

The month of May came, went, and left behind a $333,791.00 tab in consultant and contractor fees for the taxpayers of South Carolina, courtesy of the Department of Education.

Thankfully this is a decrease from April, when Rex’s department spent almost $400, ooo on non-state employee “education and training services.”

Despite a steady stream of complaints from administrators about how budget cuts are forcing the Department of Education to do its work on a “bare bones” budget, the bureaucracy has managed to find enough money to continue paying out political consultants and contractors. Teachers have been cut, but spending has been maintained for former employees of political campaigns.

• January-$296,526
• February-$358,398
• March-$366,996
• April-$397,876
• May-$333,791
• YEAR-TO-DATE: $1.7 million to consultants and contractors

Jim Rex Admits that Parents and Students want more Choices

Footage of Jim Rex speaking at his self-styled “townhall meeting” dancing around the issue of real school choice.

Superintendent Rex is clear: “Parents and students want more choices.”

Rex further explains that those children in school districts with the fewest choices are probably the students who need them most.

Sadly, despite the rhetoric, Rex is using untold sums of public money to fight against the school choices parents want.

School Districts Turn Financial Crisis Into Media Blitz

Bureaucrats bask in media attention

No one wants hard working South Carolina teachers to lose their jobs. Maintaining an adequate number of effective teachers should be priority for school districts during a time of financial uncertainty.

While many administrators and bureaucrats pay constant lip service to this principle, actions on the part of some public school districts show a readiness to put teachers on the chopping block to gain ground in wringing more money out of drained state coffers.

Unfortunately, Midlands’ parents eager to look into the reality of school funding will be disappointed again by The State, whose reporting is transparently unwilling to dig deeper than the deceptive sound bytes of district spokespeople.

Lexington/ Richland 5:
Lex/Rich 5 has blazed new trails in exploiting financial turmoil to its own advantage. Even after a seemingly unending string of administrative scandals and misrepresentations, the district was somehow able to push through a bond referendum to finance the construction of new schools to accommodate a “growing” student population. In recent weeks, the district has announced the firing of 70 teachers as a result of not receiving federal stimulus funds, and hinted that these might not be the last.

How Lex/Rich 5 is pulling a fast one:

As The Voice previously reported, Lex/Rich 5’s own year-end report points to current cuts in staff being the result of a ten year hiring binge, not because of budget cuts and the lack of stimulus money. From 1999 to 2008, the number of teaching staff increased by 57%, while the student population increased by only 16%! After a district bond referendum was foisted off on trusting taxpayers, demographic information was released stating that school populations in the district were not expected to increase in the next few years. So much for desperately needed new schools. Teachers and taxpayers are getting short changed so bureaucrats can play at being victims. Lex/Rich 5 has jumped at the chance to blame its decade-long pattern of mismanagement and misrepresentation on something else, and is not above using teachers that are casualties of the district’s own shady dealings to do so.

SC Education Reform News and Views

Editors at the Charleston Post and Courier blast Jim Rex for offering platitudes, not real reform of failing school systems:

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex describes some of the state’s initiatives today in a column on our Commentary page.

They include identifying and helping students at risk of dropping out, providing on-line learning and involving parents in developing an education plan for each child.

Notably, he doesn’t say what educators have said for too long — that systemic changes will take years, and that citizens should just be patient.

To the contrary, Dr. Rex says, “South Carolina’s on-time graduation rate … is among the most urgent problems facing our state in terms of both human potential and future prosperity.”

Our recent reports on reading problems in Charleston County schools cited the experience of Ridge Smith, who made it all the way to the ninth grade in Charleston County schools while reading at a third-grade level. Patience isn’t the answer to that kind of problem.

Ron Barnett of the Greenville News reports on the funding fight between high-dollar bureaucrats and classroom teachers:

Jim Rex admits some schools are “dropout factories”

South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Dr. Jim Rex admits to the existence of “dropout factories,” which he blames for the state’s shameful 55.6% on-time graduation rate.

Video footage was taken of Rex speaking at Education Department orchestrated “Town Hall meeting” at Greenville’s J.L. Mann High School on May 28, 2009.

Despite the shameful dropout rate, Rex is committed to blocking serious reform being push by parents and educators across the state.

P&C: Keep pushing school choice

School Choice will enhance educational opportunities for our state’s children.

An editorial published in the Charleston Post and Courier (5/18):

“Keep pushing school choice”

Last week, the S.C. Senate Education Committee effectively killed legislation that could have given some poor children stuck in long-struggling public schools a private-school alternative. The bill’s opponents may have again prevailed in the political arena, but they have only slowed the momentum for school choice in South Carolina.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, had long opposed including private schools in educational-choice programs. But citing the needs of low-income children in low-performing schools, he introduced that bill to deliver expanded choice through tax credits, for parents paying tuition and businesses providing scholarships.

Foes of his bill argue that private schools lack accountability because they aren’t bound by regulations governing public schools. They overlook the ultimate accountability that parents exert on private schools.

The bill’s foes also point out that many communities in our state lack private schools, which means that not every child now in a poorly performing public school would have the chance to transfer to a private school. By that flawed logic, we should deprive all children of that option as long as practical obstacles block any child from it.

As for funding objections, keep in mind that Sen. Ford’s bill provided tax credits, not direct state money. Keep in mind, too, that the proposal was designed to maximize assistance to low-income and disabled children, in part through tax credits for businesses that supply scholarships to families who otherwise couldn’t afford private-school tuition.

Tax credits and scholarships for private-school tuition wouldn’t solve all of our educational problems. They would, however, enhance educational opportunities for our state’s children. Increased choice within public schools would be welcome, too. But a bill to do that, backed by state Education Superintendent Jim Rex, apparently is stalled in the General Assembly, too.

Despite Sen. Ford’s inability to get his tax-credit bill passed this year, he deserves credit for bravely going against his party’s tide. He also deserves credit for his resolve to try it again next year. As Sen. Ford told an audience at a local church recently, “Eventually, we’re going to do it, and it’s going to help some kids.”

And if we can help more children get a better education, we’ll help our state to forge a better future.

Department of Education Increases Spending on Consultants (again)

Parents and teachers will be gratified to know that consultants and contractors are still getting their fair share of the SC Department of Education’s spending.

In fact, the $397,876 spent on”Non-State Education and Training Services” in April was a significant increase from previous months!

Even economic stress and uncertainty did not keep the SC Department of Education from spending $30,000 more on consultants  in April  than was spent in March, and $39,000 more than was spent in February!

Superintendent Jim Rex supports Student Scholarships

Scholarships and choices are great (except for our K-12 schools)!

Politicians and bureaucrats at South Carolina’s State Department of Education seem to want it both ways.

Their taxpayer-funded publicists promote the importance of state scholarships for students attending colleges, universities, and vocational schools in South Carolina. They recently issued a press release (see photo) calling for greater awareness and utilization of the H.O.P.E., L.I.F.E and Palmetto Fellows Scholarships, which support students attending both public and private schools.

Similarly, State Superintendent Jim Rex has personally fundraised for non-profit scholarship granting organizations that serve low-income students making higher educational choices.

But, on the other hand, Jim Rex and his public school monopolist friends are adamantly opposed to providing similarly scholarship opportunities for students in grades K through 12 (even when the scholarships are privately funded)

Parents are Talking, Are Lawmakers Listening? (VIDEO)

Dozens of parents have testified before state senators about the need families have for real school choice, and thousands more have visited the Statehouse over the last three years to plead with lawmakers for a fair chance at quality education.

Private school educators,  home school parents and public school parents have pointed out example after example of children with educational needs that local public schools are unable, or unwilling to meet.

Lawmakers, like State Senator Robert Ford, have pointed out the injustice of confining thousands of children to failing public schools, with no education, and no hope for anything better.

Even in front of the parents pleading with the state senate for help, education officials and establishment insiders stand up and try to divert lawmakers’ attention away from parents, and back to the wants of the establishment.

Lawmakers need to listen to the people in their districts who want real choices, and act accordingly.

Educators Plead With Senators to Help Children

“We’re losing our young men in this state. Some kids just need a different approach, a different environment to achieve.”- Col. Nathaniel Green, Eagle Military Academy

Eagle Military Academy is just one of the small, private schools around South Carolina serving low income students who could not make it in failing public schools. Last week’s Senate K-12 Education subcommittee meeting gave several representatives from these schools an opportunity to tell senators  how much their schools are doing to help children who would otherwise have no hope for an education and a future.

The overwhelming message of these schools:  “Give us the means to help more needy children.”

Senate Bill 520 provides an easy and accountable way for poor families to have access to private schools. Student Scholarship Organizations would receive contributions from individuals and corporations and disperse the money in the form of scholarships to families below 200% of the federal poverty level. For far less than the amount spent in public schools, privately donated scholarships can take a student out of a one-size-fits-all failing school, and into an environment truly geared toward helping them.

Senators have in their hands the opportunity to help schools like Eagle Military Academy continue to provide quality education and personal care for children who desperately need it. The other option is to ignore the pleas of desperate parents, children and educators, and take the easy route of caving in to education establishment bullying and fear mongering.