Invest in teachers; Cut administration costs
By Jessica Cross crossja84@gmail

South Carolina may feel the pinch of education expenses a little more than usual next year. But state officials are focused on the quality and efficiency of education in the state, which could lead to savings.

According to the Governor's Office, the state is faced with kicking off next year with a 430 million dollar deficit. The Governor's Office and the Education Department are assessing what can be done to improve education despite the budget crunch.

In an October education budget hearing, Superintendent of Education Jim Rex presented his budget recommendations to Gov. Mark Sanford. The recommendations for transportation, teacher quality, and other expenses would total 430 million dollars if the requests are fulfilled.

Rex's primary objectives for increasing the quality of education are greater innovation in public schools, expanding public school choice, revising the accountability and testing program, addressing the teacher shortage, and finding a better way to fund the public schools.

Perhaps the most important of these initiatives is addressing the state's teacher shortage. "Teachers are the futuremakers of our state, and right now we're neglecting them," said Rex in an interview.

The department's strategy in handling the issue is to elevate the compensation and the regard of teachers. One way of elevating is to look at the salaries of teachers in surrounding states and provide competitive pay. Since 20 of South Carolina's 46 counties share a border with another state, teachers may be attracted to a higher paying job on the other side of the border.

Expanding school choice is another target among state officials. Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the Governor, said more school choice is the biggest thing needed to improve education.

Rex said Montessori schools are one option for offering parents and students greater school choice. Montessori schools foster self- paced, independent learning, and several of the schools have been established in Laurens, S.C. But setting up a Montessori classroom costs about $40,000.

Another option for school choice is creating single gender classrooms. Parents can enroll their children in these classrooms for any number of reasons.There is no extra cost in educating boys and girls in different classes.

While increasing the quality of a South Carolina education will cost more money, the administration hopes to spend funds more wisely. "We're going to look across the spectrum to areas where we can save money," said Sawyer.

And consolidating some of the 91 school districts is one method of saving money. Sawyer says that consolidation might save the state about $20 million dollars. The idea is to invest more money in the teachers and education, rather than spending excess money on administration costs.

Rex also acknowledged that funding education on a tight budget is complicated, but communities can rally around their children to help meet the challenge. Rex said, "The challenge of educating children is not just the school's." For example, volunteering and mentoring children through programs like Big Brothers Big Sister give people an opportunity to be involved in the education of the young people and allow them to take ownership of their community.