• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

New State Funding Plan Disappoints Educators: Many Say Additional Money Not Enough to Meet

Posted on: Sunday, 4 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Bill Robinson, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Jun. 4--Rural educators and their allies said they are appreciative but underwhelmed by the Legislature's financial commitment to 4-year-old kindergarten.

Lawmakers agreed last week to pay for full-day kindergarten, but only for select 4-year-olds from needy families in South Carolina's poorest communities.

The new state budget earmarks $23.6 million for "child development education" in school districts involved in a protracted legal battle with state government leaders.

How far that money will stretch and how many children it can help is unclear.

"I don't think $23 million ... is an adequate response to the issues raised by Judge Cooper's ruling," said Florence 2 superintendent Steve Quick, one the districts that sued the state.

The money is a one-year commitment the Legislature made to address concerns raised in December, when Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. handed down a decision in a lawsuit that challenged "minimally adequate education" as the standard for S.C. public schools.

The state meets its constitutional obligation for K-12 public education, Cooper ruled. But he also ruled more resources should be expended on "early childhood education."

Dillon 3 superintendent John Kirby said he has "mixed emotions about trusting the impact of $23 million."

Dillon 3, which serves the Latta community, received $50,846 in state money this year to pay for 4-year-old kindergarten for 40 children. Kirby said his district provided instruction for an additional 50 "at-risk" 4-year-olds. The Dillon 3 school board had to tap local money and grants to offset the additional cost.

"Even if they send me that money to reach more 4-year-olds," Kirby said, "I don't have anywhere to put them. I need classroom space."

That is the dilemma for many rural districts -- especially along the Interstate 95 corridor -- with small populations and weak economies. Those communities have difficulty generating enough money through taxes to pay for classrooms, teachers or the $7,000 to $10,000 per child needed for expansion of kindergarten to serve 4-year-olds.

However, Dan Cooper, the Anderson Republican who chairs the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said the tax reform bill that passed the Legislature would give a boost to poor counties. He said criticism of the Legislature is unfounded, especially considering the tax bill will give some of those poor counties up to $2.4 million in additional money to spend on schools.

"They never mention that," he said.

Wilbur Cave, a community activist in Allendale County and former lawmaker, said he was encouraged his former colleagues appropriated money specifically for the state's neediest children.

"Because I'm an optimist, I'll say it's a good first bite of the elephant," Cave said. "But we have an awful long way to go. Early childhood education should start from birth."

LEGISLATURE'S FUNDING A START

Others are not so optimistic.

"I feel a deep sense of disappointment in the General Assembly's action," said Carl Epps of Columbia, the attorney who filed the funding-fairness lawsuit against the state on behalf of three dozen school districts in 1993.

"They need to go back and re-read Judge Cooper's order," Epps said of legislators. "It's much broader than they've interpreted. They never looked beyond 4-year-old kindergarten."

That sentiment is shared by other educators and education organizations that have united to lend support to the districts suing the state.

Lawmakers are "doing only what they think they have to do," said Jon Butzon, director of the Charleston Education Network, a nonprofit school advocacy and reform group.

As lawmakers debated the pros and cons of infusing more money into a program providing a 6½-hour daily instruction for 4-year-olds, they settled on targeting children from low-income families.

"I understand you've got to start slow, but maybe it needs to be a little faster than that," said Rick Reames, director of the Pee Dee Education Center, a consortium of 19 school districts.

Nell Stewart of Greenville is active in the S.C. School Improvement Council, an organization that represents educators, parents and community leaders that serve as advisory panels to local schools.

"The education system in South Carolina affects my quality of life," she said. "We don't act as if we know that. If other children aren't getting a good education, it affects the state as a whole. Any weakness in our education system affects all of us."

Epps filed paperwork two months ago asking Cooper to reconsider his ruling. Cooper has yet to respond to that request.

Epps was hopeful the Legislature would make a more forceful statement about addressing his clients' needs. He said $23.6 million was a start, but fell short of his expectations.

"On balance, it just reinforces the thought that our leadership is not committed to advancing education in South Carolina," he said. "The money is not going to be sufficient to educate children raised in poverty or elsewhere."

Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.)

More News in this Category