By fitsnews – February 13, 2012
In news that will come as a shock to absolutely no one, South Carolina’s so-called “accountability” agency has concluded that the Palmetto State’s chronically under-performing public schools will not reach even the dumbed down goals that have been set for them.
And the odds makers take a beating, right?
According to the S.C. Education Oversight Commission (SCEOC) – the state agency which administers South Carolina’s costly and ineffective “academic accountability” measures – public school students in the Palmetto State will fail to hit “revamped” targets set for them two years ago by state lawmakers.
Wait … “revamped?”
Really, Associated Press? “Revamped?”
Last time we checked the “accountability reforms” approved by state lawmakers in 2009 (and codified by the SCEOC in 2010) did not “revamp” our standards so much as they made them easier.
And our kids still can’t make the grade? Apparently not, according to the SCEOC – which announced this week that South Carolina is falling further behind on its “revamped” academic benchmarks and as a result won’t reach its 2020 goals (which were instituted only after it became painfully obvious that the state wasn’t going to reach its 2010 goals).
Wow … and this in spite of record funding increases that have left public schools sitting on nearly $1 billion in surplus revenue.
Last spring, lawmakers once again had an opportunity to pass real academic reform … but balked.
Thanks to sixteen “Republicans,” the S.C. House of Representatives refused to even consider a universal parental choice bill that would have provided options for all students while subjecting public schools to some real accountability for a change – the accountability of the marketplace.
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