Student reports on U.S. Congressman's opinion on the state of public education
By John Dixon

John Dixon, a student at Cardinal Newman and a cub reporter for The Columbia Star, with U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson

Congressman Joe Wilson is "just plain folks" and seems comfortable wherever he goes and with whomever he's with. The Columbia Star caught up with him on the evening of August 29, at the Mid Carolina Gun Club where he was being honored for his support of a strong America and the Second Amendment rights of his constituents.

After club president, Robert Clarkson, presented Wilson with an honorary club membership, Wilson took time to address the members and answer questions from those assembled. After finishing his question and answer session, Wilson voiced his opinions about the state of public education in South Carolina.

Wilson's position on vouchers and/or tax credits for students attending private schools was somewhat guarded. He quickly qualified his response by saying "If you are in a failing school system, you should have the right to go to an adjacent school system or a school that is working. I don't think it is right that you would tell people they will be going to a school that's failing and then say ...well in about ten years it will be better. That's destroying lives and people in that county should have a right to transfer to other public or private schools when a school has a failing grade."

Wilson serves on the Education and Workforce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. The first thing he told the chairman of that committee is that the improvement of public schools is a state issue. "I want education issues to be determined by the state, and in particular, I want them to be determined by local school boards. So I want the Federal role to be near zero."

Wilson noted that there may be some federal funding necessary in some areas, especially for special education, but he supports working on teacher quality in poor schools by using loan forgiveness programs for teachers agreeing to teach in Title One schools with high numbers of students on free and reduced lunch. He states that after that, federal control should be minimal.

Wilson believes in a strong America and feels the primary function of the federal government should be national defense and the primary job of the state should be education. "The people who should be running the schools should be school board members who are elected and/or removed by the voters," said Wilson.

Wilson went on to say the best way to prepare South Carolina's students for jobs in today's technological society is to hire the best administrators who will in turn hire the best teachers and provide them with the best training and equipment to get the job done. He feels we have made a start in that direction. Having just finished a tour of schools, Wilson was excited by the motivation and excitement demonstrated by the students and teachers he observed all over the state.

Wilson knows that education and jobs go hand and hand. As member of Congress he works with the Central Carolina Alliance and the Department of Commerce to create laws to reduce capital gains taxes so there will be more money to make investments so than more jobs can be created. He actively lobbies business in his Congressional District to create jobs and hire local people.

Wilson was awed by UPS's recent move to add 850 temporary and part-time jobs to its workforce in the state thus creating "real people jobs" for people who need entry level experience.

As excited as he was about the good news, he was equally disappointed about the failure of The State newspaper to report that good news in a timely fashion, noting that nobody at the meeting knew of the new job opportunities because of poor media coverage despite timely press releases.

In closing remarks, Wilson indicated the education and jobs outlook will improve in South Carolina when everyone focuses on the prize and works together to achieve it.