We know this will likely come as a colossal shock to everybody who lives in South Carolina, but go ahead and grab your socks and hose anyway … and get ready to pull.
Why? Well it turns out that (gasp) … our public school system sucks.
Wait, what?
Yeah. It sucks. Like … big time.
And even though it’s always sucked (no matter how much money we’ve poured into its top-heavy bureaucracy), the fact that it still sucks … well, sucks.
Of course, now that we’re in a tight budget year, brace yourself for the most well-heeled bureaucrats to start bitching and moaning that a shortage of money is to blame – an intellectually bankrupt argument that the biggest bureaucrat of them all started laying groundwork for several months ago.
Don’t buy it, people.
Through thick and thin, fat and lean, up and down, boom and bust, feast and famine, depression or recession … for centuries there has been one immovable, immutable constant in the universe – the fact that South Carolina’s public school system sucks.
And still does.
From the latest edition of The Voice, we learn:
South Carolina public schools earned a “D†for student achievement (again)
and a “D-†for spending practices (despite over $11,480 in per student allocation)
also a “D-†for college readiness
and worst of all, an “F†for the absolute status of K-12 Achievement
Oh, in case you were wondering, the source for all of this information is none other than Education Week, which is funded by the leftist Pew Foundation.
So basically this is the liberals putting their best foot forward.
South Carolina did, however, receive a perfect “100″ rating for its “standards,” which we suppose would be great if those standards were actually being met.
But they’re not.
While our kids continue to “make the grade” according to these morons‘ definition of adequate yearly progress, they keep falling further behind the rest of the nation in legitimate academic measurements like SAT scores, ACT scores and graduation rate.
Which obviously means that our so-called “standards” aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
Also of interest in the Education Week report is that South Carolina received an “A” rating for our facilities and teacher incentives and a “B+” rating for our equity in funding – meaning that there’s absolutely no excuse for an “F” in achievement … unless of course the system is tragically FUBAR.
Which, of course, it is.
Now the question is … are we finally going to fix it this year? Or are we going to keep doing the same crap we’ve always done?
Hmmmm … our money is on “Option B.” Sadly.
By Chris January 9, 2009 at 10:04 am
The only way to fix this is vouchers. The Dept of Ed and the Districts have no motivation to do anything because in the end everyone caves when they say “Its for the children.” Well, some serious corporate like competition to either attract students and parents – or fail – is the only thing that could motivate them. And before those nae-sayers jump in about how this would “fail the children” – uhh….Hello? Anyone? Bueller? I think we ARE failing the children NOW.
Short of that, the Dept of Ed itself could be reduced in half with no perceivable impact on the quality of education in the state. Internal projects waste untold millions and do not in any way benefit the students. They make a damn fine “Modern Conference Room†though.
By baker January 9, 2009 at 5:32 pm
FITSNews and SCRG’s “The Voice” predictably cherry pick the most negative data and cast aside all else. Just a few points from the report:
**South Carolina got a middling rating, in line with most states in the nation.
**South Carolina’s overall numerical rating was actually higher than the US average.
**The EdWeek folks gave South Carolina an “A” for its accountability system. Not sure I’m that wild about it, actually, but I do think it’s interesting to note. The report gives the state high marks for standards, too.
**Here’s how they explain their ratings on spending: “…we focus on dollars spent relative to some relevant criterion or benchmark, such as regional differences in costs, the national average for per-pupil expenditures, or the total size of a state’s budget.” In all honesty, I’m not sure exactly what this means, but I don’t get the idea that it means SC is wasteful or over-spends. Maybe I’m wrong here.
**The overall “status” rating is certainly damaging. I couldn’t find an explanation for it, exactly. But it’s obviously the glaring problematic figure in this report.
What it seems that all this says is that South Carolina’s educational system is doing some things really well — or at least in a reasonable manner. We still have achievement issues that may be tied to many factors: from problems in our school system to environmental and social factors outside schools’ control.
And, of course, a plan that offers tax credits to some but guarantees nothing to the state’s neediest students is problematic. And finding strong private schools willing to take in our state’s most challenged students is a difficult proposition, as well. Chris proposes a voucher system as the solution. Vouchers specifically targeted to the poorest kids out there and with some assurance that those students will be admitted into good, well-heeled private schools might work in some communities. Of course, that’s not Put Parents in Charge proposed.
By BIN News Editorial Staff January 10, 2009 at 2:29 am
Vouchers are dead in SC, and everyone knows it. Just ask Jakie! Even sic(k) willie’s mysterious Midlands’ elected official with a Strom problem will tell you no responsible elected official will touch vouchers again.
Howie and his carpetbuggers have been exposed. And sic(k) willie and his “bud” randy-randie at SCRG and the Voice for School Voucher Scams will keep sucking Howies’ carpetbugger money as long as it is there. Pigs are like that, too.
But pigs know bad slop. And vouchers are nothing by bad slop.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
By Chris January 11, 2009 at 10:37 am
“And vouchers are nothing by bad slop.”
I do so love how those who have never spent a day working in a school district or the Dept of Ed seem to be such experts on these things. Might I suggest you actually do some research on plans outside of SC? Would love to hear your alternative. Waste at every level is so far beyond what the public is aware of it simply defies belief.
At the very least, fight for complete transparency of spending at every level – then you can make an informed decision as a voter.