Category: Education

A new S.C. Policy Council poll of likely South Carolina voters shows broad and bi-partisan support for school choice legislation expected to be voted on by the S.C. Senate this…

. . Inflation, gas prices are top concerns for SC voters as lawmakers return to Columbia for special session Inflation and gas prices are among the most pressing concerns for…

Update: House lawmakers inserted language from the bill as a proviso in the state budget, which passed the chamber Wednesday. The budget bill now heads to the Senate. Under S.376,…

It’s nearly the end of the year and South Carolina’s legislative session is rapidly approaching! The first day of session begins on January 14, 2020. Since 2019 was the first…

Each year, the state spends millions on duplicative administrative positions that could be used in the classroom. Instead of overhauling South Carolina’s antiquated school district model, lawmakers have historically taken…

It’s no secret that South Carolina’s education system is regarded as one of the worst in the country. In many cases, lawmakers have turned to increased spending and growing government…

INCREASED FUNDING MIGHT – MIGHT – GET YOU A “MINIMALLY ADEQUATE” EDUCATION. CHOICE CAN DO FAR BETTER. A year ago the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a decision in the…

WHEN THE ARGUMENT IS ABOUT EVIDENCE, SCHOOL CHOICE WINS. EVERY TIME. Over the last thirty years or more, well-meaning reformers have tried valiantly to improve educational results within public education systems. Prominent…

SAME BAD ARGUMENT, DIFFERENT TAX It is a long held view among many elected officials that the only thing preventing exemplary achievements for students in state run schools is insufficient…

THE ABBEVILLE DECISION IS JUDICIAL IMPERIALISM IN SUPPORT OF DISCREDITED POLICY The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a momentous decision on November 12. In a case that’s been going on…

NOT AS MUCH AS IT SHOULD A recent debate between the two major party candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next Superintendent of Education failed to reveal many substantive policy…

ONE BLOATED COMPENSATION PACKAGE IS ONLY A TINY PART OF THE PROBLEM Late in 2013 University of South Carolina (USC) President Harris Pastides was making hat in hand entreaties to the…

COMMON CORE IS EVERYWHERE – BY DESIGN. REJECTING IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN A BILL. Across the country, parents and teachers are waking up and forcing their states to reject the…

ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL IS GREAT, UNLESS YOU’RE THE WRONG SIZE Common Core, whatever else may be said about it, is a one-size-fits-all standards regime. Parents of special needs children therefore have every reason…

IN A WORD: INFLEXIBILITY “Common Core has nothing to do with curriculum, instruction, or testing.” No matter how many times Common Core’s most prominent supporters make that claim, it’s still…

IT’LL ONLY GO AWAY WHEN LAWMAKERS LEARN TO TURN AWAY FEDERAL CASH On several recent occasions we’ve heard pundits or public officials – and in one case a candidate for…

WILL COMMON CORE PREPARE YOUR KID FOR SUCCESS? UNFORTUNATELY, NO. Over the last year, we’ve seen a number of pro-Common Core publications that ask and purport to answer some variation of…

SOUTH CAROLINA MAY WITHDRAW FROM THE COMMON CORE-ALIGNED CONSORTIUM KNOWN AS SMARTER BALANCED. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? With the recent move by the South Carolina Department of Education to remove…

HOW TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT EDUCATION IN S.C. It’s no secret that South Carolina has some of the worst public schools and some of the lowest levels of student academic…

AS EVER, THE EASY ANSWER IS THE WRONG ONE A new study by the Cato Institute reinforces the findings of SCPC and other researchers: more money doesn’t produce better results.…

LAWMAKERS SHOULD  END IT – WITHOUT EQUIVOCATION AND WITHOUT DELAY When it comes to Common Core’s adoption in South Carolina, there is plenty of blame to go around. The federal government could be…

The K-12 The Education Subcommittee met Wednesday to discuss bills related to Common Core, most notably, S.300 that, as originally written, would prohibit the use of Common Core academic standards…

THIS YEAR, AT LEAST ONE PROPOSAL IS ACTUALLY ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE Fourteen representatives in the House came together on February 6 to co-sponsor the most significant attempt at school choice…

  COMMITTEE WON’T MAKE DECISION, CITIZENS PAY THE PRICE In February of 2012 the State Board of Education approved the use of SMARTER Balanced assessments – the tests made by a “consortium”…

THE TROUBLE IS: MORE MONEY ≠ BETTER PERFORMANCE Last week Governor Haley unveiled her K-12 Education Reform Initiative for South Carolina. The governor’s new plan is consistent with most education improvement…

  ‘NULLIFYING’ COMMON CORE WON’T MAKE IT GO AWAY, BUT A BILL NOW IN THE LEGISLATURE WOULD GIVE TAXPAYERS SOME SAY IN THE MATTER The first step toward removing Common…

MAYBE, BUT IT MAY TAKE MORE THAN PASSING A LAW Opponents of Common Core, the nationalized set of academic standards currently being imposed on South Carolina public schools, are wondering…

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A CURRICULUM YOU WOULD CHOOSE? In Part I of our analysis of Common Core-based curriculum material, we discussed some problematic lesson plans disseminated by Student Achievement…

WONDER WHAT YOUR LAWMAKERS WERE UP TO IN 2013? IT’S ALL HERE. Our annual guide to the year’s legislative session, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, has been…

A RECENT EDUCATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING SUGGESTS JUST HOW MUCH POWER WE’RE GIVING AWAY  “Security has asked me to advise that they are in attendance. If there are any outbursts…