Carolina Politics Online

This is the status quo that Jim Rex and most of your state legislators want to preserve.

In 2009, SAT scores dropped for the third year in a row, as did the number of students passing the Exit Exam and the Advanced Placement tests. South Carolina was ranked 50th in high school “promoting power” by the Southern Regional Education Board. That study indicates that half of South Carolina’s public high schools are now categorized as “dropout factories,” where graduation rates remain below 50 percent. A third report estimated that the on-time graduation rate is just 40 percent at the public high schools serving South Carolina’s lowest income communities.

The Beaufort Tribune

According to South Carolinians for Responsible Government, the source of the above piece, the public schools in South Carolina spent an average of $12,258 per student.  That’s almost twice as much money as many European countries who are blowing us away in education.  Still think education in this state is underfunded?

A poll released by Inside Advantage shows the current match up for this year’s gubernatorial elections in South Carolina.  The numbers weren’t too surprising, but there was one ranking that stood out.  Gresham Barrett is tanking.  As I predicted a year ago, his Wall Street bailout vote was political suicide.

If the Republican gubernatorial primary were held today, the results would be as follows: Henry McMaster and Andre Bauer would tie with 22%, Nikki Haley would follow with 13%, Barrett is fourth with 9%, and Larry Grooms brings up the anchor with 6%.  28% are undecided at this point in time.

On the Democrat side of the aisle, Jim Rex leads with 21% followed by Dwight Drake with 15%.  Vincent Sheheen comes in third with 8% and Robert Ford and Mullins McLeod trail each with 6%.  The undecideds are much higher among Democrats, 44%.

No general election match up was done yet to see how who would fair against who.

The latest polling from Public Policy Polling of the South Carolina gubernatorial race shows the Republican candidates with comfortable over the Democrats.  AG Henry McMaster at this point seems to be the best prospect for the GOP as he leads Democrats Jim Rex 40 – 31, Vincent Sheheen 41 – 26, and Robert Ford 42-27.  Congressman Gresham Barrett has similar leads but with slightly smaller gaps.  McMaster has the highest approval rating of the three Republican candidates polled while Barrett has the lowest.  The only real competitive match up at this point would be between Lt Gov Andre Bauer and Jim Rex in which Rex actually holds a one point lead over Bauer.

Republican candidate Nikki Haley was not included the poll.  She is the only Republican I consider supporting at this point.  Robert Ford is the only Democrat I would vote for.

If you have never visited the Voice for School Choice Web site, I highly recommend you pop over there from time to time.  They really do an excellent job of combing through all the financial records of all of the school districts in our state and laying out how much of our money they are wasting away despite always whining about having no money.

Last year South Carolina school districts spent a combined total of $8.4 billion.  That is more than the budget of the entire state government.  It equates to approximately $12,000 per student, which is enormously high.  It is an increase of 8.5% from the previous year despite only 44 cents of every dollar spent reaching the class room and according to test scores absolutely no educational benefit whatsoever.

Check it out.

I wonder what Jim Rex has to say about that.  He wants to be our next governor.

Jim Rex has announced he will not run for another term as South Carolina’s State Superintendent of our “screwls.”  This infers it is much more probable that he will make a formal announcement of his intentions to run for governor in 2010 in the coming days.  At least without Rex at the helm of our public “education” system we might be able to slow the bleeding a bit.  The protectors of the status quo, of course, praise him for a job “well” done.

Oconee County District Superintendent Mike Lucas and Pickens County School Superintendent Henry Hunt Friday praised State Superintendent Jim Rex for the job he has done since assuming those duties in January 2007.

Daily Journal

I am perplexed as to how anyone can think Rex has made any improvements in education considering the disgrace of our public schools across the state.  Is a 55.6% graduation rate praise worthy?  I guess Lucas and Hunt have the bar set pretty low.  God forbid he would be given the opportunity to exercise that very same “success” in the governor’s office.

Within the next two weeks, South Carolina public schools will receive $184 million in federal stimulus money that Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said will save jobs.

Rex said the impact of that cash will be felt most noticeably by what students and parents won’t see: dramatically larger class sizes.

The Post and Courier

In the short term, sure it will save jobs.  The long term is an entirely different story.  This is borrowed money and eventually the piper must be paid, with interest.  The whole “stimulus” package is one big gamble with the finances of the American people.  It relies on a risk that in two years the economy will have recovered to a reasonable enough state that the debt can start to be repaid along with offsetting the negative affects the debt will have on the value of the American dollar.  If however the economy has not recovered or is even worse off than today, what then?

The “stimulus” money disappears after two years.  Mark my words, we will be dealing with this situation again two years from now.

One woman who spoke said “we deserve to give our children more than what we’re giving them.”  She is absolutely right.  The problem is that the teachers, the bureaucratic school administrators, and the teachers’ unions are financially giving more to politicians like Jim Rex and other supporters of the failing status quo than parents are and that is more important to them than giving more to our children.

This coming from Rex?  I don’t know.  There’s a got to be a catch here somewhere.

Bills now filed in the South Carolina Legislature could provide parents more choices regarding how their children are educated, officials said.

According to the South Carolina Education Department, twin bills filed Tuesday in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate would require school districts to create school choice committees and create new instructional choices at the elementary-, middle- and high-school levels within two years.

Already across the state school, districts are moving toward providing choices in the courses of study they offer, according to education department officials.

Some of the choice programs now offered in the state include single-gender initiatives, middle college/early college, Montessori Education, evening high school, language immersion, academic academies, arts integration and international baccalaureate programs.

The Independent Mail

Well, I must say, I’m impressed.  This is an excellent start but I still want to see parents having the option of taking their children out of failing and dangerous school districts and enrolling them in an entirely different district.  In other words, just get rid of the districts altogether and let the kids go where ever they want.  Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction.  There has to be some kind of variety in education in this state because right now our state school systems suck pretty bad.

I wonder if this new initiative has anything to do with him considering a gubernatorial run next year.

One possibile long-term reform would be to change the tax structure by establishing a statewide uniform foundation millage in 2011, which Rex said would provide more funding to school districts with lower overall property values without hurting more-affluent districts. He said it would not be a statewide property tax.

The Item

Uh… a property tax is exactly what it is, you dumb ass.  I guess by using a fifty cent word like millage Rex thinks he can fool the ignorant and the stupid into buying into this, which maybe they will.

Why not just allocate a set amount of money per each student in the state, let the parents choose the school they want their kid to go to (GASP!  You mean competition??) and send that money to whichever school they choose?  That way the same amount of money is being spent for each student whether they are in Fort Mill or Orangeburg.

Jim Rex has no interest in solving any problems with South Carolina education.  He is just a bureaucrat who wants to maintain the status quo.  Remember folks, this man wants to be your next governor.  If you enjoyed having that weight taken off your shoulders when you received your property tax bill in December and saw it was less than half of the year before then Rex should be a very scary man to you.

State schools Superintendent Jim Rex sent an e-mail to employees explaining the mandatory furloughs, which represent a $569,000 savings.

All agency employees must take the unpaid days off before the fiscal year ends June 30. The furlough does not apply to teachers or other school district workers.

The move should save between 13 and 15 jobs, Rex said.

The Greenville News

Why not just elminate the jobs and see the savings every year?  The South Carolina education system doesn’t exist to provide employment for people; it’s there to “educate” our children.  The education complex is too over loaded with administrators and bureaucrats.

COLUMBIA — Lawmakers should allow four-day school weeks, limited standardized testing and flexibility for school systems to shift state funding as a way to deal with more than $200 million in anticipated budget cuts for education, state Education Superintendent Jim Rex said Tuesday.

Rex’s suggestions came as education officials prepared for the Legislature’s decision next week on how to cut the state’s budget by 7 percent, largely as a result of reduced revenue projections by state economic advisers.

The Greenville News

Yet through all of this, still no talk of eliminating positions of educative bureaucrat administrators and pie in the sky programs that have not shown to be effective in enhancing education nor their worth in tax dollars spent.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Education Superintendent Jim Rex wants the Legislature to give local school districts flexibility to deal with budget cuts on their own, including adopting four-day school schedules.

Rex is planning to describe what’s needed in a news conference Tuesday afternoon after days of meeting with district officials. Schools will shoulder the biggest chunk of budget cuts the Legislature is expected to debate in a budget-trimming expected as early as next week.

WACH

This is an interesting proposal, particularly the four day school week, although I’m not sure how many parents are going to be as impressed with it when they are working five.  What is to be done with junior on the fifth day?  Frankly, I think American children spend far too much time in school.  We obviously have nothing to show for it considering how awful public education is in the U.S.  In Finland, for example, children don’t start school until age 7.  They get very little homework and yet they consistently score at the top of all nations in literacy, math, and science.  The OECD has ranked Finland number one in the world in quality of education.

As I’ve said before, contrary to what you’ll hear the NEA scream and other educational bureaucrats, anybody who takes the time to actually become informed on education in this country is well aware that our schools are OVER funded.  Yes, that’s right.  I said over funded.  The U.S spends more on education than any other nation in the world and we rank no where near the top of the list of industrial nations in terms of educational quality.  According to the Voice for School Choice, only 44 cents of every dollar spent on schools in South Carolina actually reach the classroom.  The rest is on adminstrative expenses.

If given the power, it will be interesting to see how the individual districts respond.

H/T to The Voice for School Choice

After a year of poor SAT scores and bottom-line PACT proficiency, news of an across-the-board drop in the number of schools making “Adequate Yearly Progress” is just bad icing on an already inedible cake.

Parents have already had to hear that even the best performing school districts in South Carolina are still hundreds of points below public schools in North Carolina. Now, figures from the State Department of Education show that only 1 out of every 5 schools in South Carolina met goals for “Adequate Yearly Progress.”

Of all the public schools in South Carolina, only a pitiful 18% managed to meet federally-defined Adequate Yearly Progress Goals for 2008. That breaks down to 715 of the state’s 875 elementary and middle schools failing to meet their goals! Of the 200 high schools in the state, 165 failed to meet their AYP goals.

So here is what I want to know.  How many parents will still vote to reelect their school boards in these failing districts, which is most of the state?  What will the incumbent retention rate be?  How many voters will support Jim Rex in his reelection bid or in what ever further political ambitions he has?  How many voters will actually start paying attention to what these people running for these offices are saying what the problem is and what they will do to fix it and how many voters will actually take the time to do the research to know whether or not these people are correct their diagnoses or totally clueless?

I’ve said it before and I am going to keep saying it again.  The only reason the South Carolina school system is as appealing as mold in dirty gym shoes is because of the voters!  You elect these people to run these school systems and you’re getting exactly what you have elected.  Stop being so damn lazy and stand up and fight for your childrens’ futures!

That’s what we’re doing.  The money certainly isn’t being invested in turning out a quality product.  The Voice for School Choice released some stats today showing that South Carolina has one of the highest drop out rates in the country and some of the lowest test scores, all while increasing spending to over $11,400 per student.  You could send each kid to a private school in a limousine each day for that amount of money.  It’s no secret to me that we don’t get the bang for our buck when it comes to public education in the U.S.  I’ve been following that for years.  The Europeans spend slightly more than half of what we do and they are far better educated, but here in South Carolina we’re at the bottom of the barrel even for the barrel.

Heck of a job you’re doing there, Jim Rex!  Still going to run for governor?

If Bauer sticks to the same less government, less spending orthodoxy as Sanford then I’ll happily get behind him.  With the addiction the State Assembly has to tax dollars and pork, someone has to be there to smack them down.  I can’t imagine what it will be like without Sanford at the helm.

Jim Rex (D) has also stated that he will make a decision around this time of next year.

South Carolinians for Responsible Government have called out State Superintendent Jim Rex on his claim that schools in low income areas are underfunded.  They have provided plenty of data showing that this simply is not the case.  This actually isn’t news to me.  I have been aware of this for many years, but most people would be surprised to find out that in many instances schools districts in the lowest income areas have the highest per pupil cost.

Advocates of higher school spending, mainly Democrats, RINOs, and teachers unions are forever claiming that the public schools are under performing in this country because they are under funded, but I have debunked that many times myself.  The United States of America spends the most money per child on public education than any other country in the world and we have the dumbest kids of all industrialized nations.  When I used to live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the Pittsburgh Public School District had some of the highest spending per child in the state and yet had near a 1/3 drop out rate.  I also had a conversation with a State Representative there some years back who told me the state did a study that showed there was absolutely no correlation with the amount of funding a school received and its overall performance.  Some wealthy districts did poorly and some poor district did very well.

So what is the reasoning for so many poor neighborhoods having the highest school spending?  That’s actually an easy answer and while I generally prefer to keep my opinions nonpartisan, I am breaking my own rule on this one.  Your poorest neighborhoods are usually in your inner cities and urban areas.  These are neighborhoods where Democrats are overwhelmingly elected and control the government.  The Democrats are also the ones backed by the teachers unions and they pretty much do their bidding.  The school boards and the unions want more money, they give it to them.  It’s no secret that the Democratic Party loves taxes.  They keep raising the taxes more and more to give more money to the schools and it of course makes no difference, but that doesn’t matter.  They just want the money.

Now being the State Superintendent one would think that Jim Rex is aware of the figures that SCRG have posted on their Web site.  So the ultimate question is, why is Mr. Rex lying to the people of South Carolina?

The bill would eliminate the state’s Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test and replace it with a test that would give teachers more timely feedback, require a review of the state’s accountability system every five years and restructure the annual school report cards so they are shorter.

Some lawmakers say state law doesn’t need to be changed for ideas in the bill to become a reality. Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, circulated a letter Thursday that said state law gives Rex authority to develop the state’s assessment program.

The Post and Courier

Spending resources on developing another version of the aptitude test is just a waste of time.  The only thing that is going to improve the failure we call public education is competition and allowing teacher to actually teach instead of teaching students to pass a test.  It’s amazing to me how awful the education system is in this country and the educative establishment across the nation just keeps modifying the same failing approaches.

The state schools chief says he plans to push another public school choice program in the Legislature next year, even though his efforts were defeated last year.

“I do think this is an idea whose time has come,” said State Education Superintendent Jim Rex. “We have a lot of parents and children who deserve and need more choices in public schools now.”

Last year’s effort faced several critics, including Gov. Mark Sanford, who wanted to include private schools in the choices. Rex’s plan was to allow parents to send their kids to any school, regardless of district.

The Beaufort Gazette

This is a no-brainer. Competition breeds quality. Why shouldn’t parents be allowed to choose where to send their kids? Does the government tell you where you have to go to college? Of course not. The state should attach the funding to the student, rather than the school district and the funds follow the student to whichever school he goes to.