Spartanburg doesn't want unfunded bus mandate

Editors of the Herald-Journal last week detailed their skepticism of Governor Nikki Haley's scheme to privatize the state's school bus system, declaring that they don't want another unfunded mandate sent down from Columbia.

I doubt that Haley will suddenly reverse course upon reading the editors' commentary; after all, they endorsed Vincent Sheheen against Haley in 2010, cautioning their readers against Haley's "platitudes."

Still, the editors in this instance -- as in that instance -- make perfect sense.

If state lawmakers decide to divest themselves of the state’s school bus system, they must do so in a manner that doesn’t place an unfunded mandate on school districts.

South Carolina is unlike other states in that the state owns and operates the school bus fleet. Gov. Nikki Haley and some lawmakers have been pushing to change that. They want to create a system that allows school districts to operate the buses on their own or hire private companies to operate their buses.

The state House was too divided on the issue to pass the proposal. Instead, lawmakers voted to form a study committee to look into the issue.

There is much room for improvement here.

The General Assembly rarely approves money to buy new school buses, so the average age of a bus in the fleet is about 14 years. The state often maximizes the money it does have by buying used buses from school operations in other states.

It is likely that there are efficiencies and improvements that privatization could bring to the school transportation system. Allowing districts control over their transportation systems might also allow them to better provide for their students’ needs.

But there is danger in changing the system as well. Many school district officials are afraid of an unfunded mandate — something state government requires them to do but fails to pay for. That is a legitimate fear.

School officials know it is likely that lawmakers will turn over the bus system to them and initially turn over the money that ran that system. But will that state allotment keep up with inflation?

As the buses age and need to be replaced, where will the money come from to buy new buses? That money isn’t in the annual budget. The General Assembly makes a special appropriation every so often. Will it give up this money when the buses are no longer a state concern?

As fuel prices continue to rise, will lawmakers increase the budget given to school districts to run the bus system? Or once lawmakers have washed their hands of the bus system, will they leave school districts to solve that problem on their own?

If bus service becomes a local issue, wealthier school districts will put more money into their systems than poorer districts. How long will it be before lawmakers are denouncing disparity in district bus systems and calling again for change?

Transportation is a critical element of our education system. South Carolina’s children need safe and reliable buses to take them to school and back home. They don’t need another political football tossed between Columbia and school districts.

As the study committee examines this issue, it should focus on enabling improvements, empowering school districts and avoiding saddling districts with a new financial burden they are ill-equipped to bear.

Because Spartanburg needs a Texas-based charter school

When I first scanned this note, I thought High Point University, way up in North Carolina, was trying to open a charter school in Spartanburg. Why, I thought, would someone in North Carolina want to entangle themselves in running a charter school down here?

I read it more closely and discovered that the people initiating this charter school in Spartanburg aren't from North Carolina, they're from Texas.

So I'll revise my question: Why does someone in Texas want to entangle themselves in running a charter school here?

In the absence of any sensible answer, I must conclude that it's the same as it always is when ideological individuals and organizations seek to dismantle and privatize public education: It has to be about the money.

An application for a new charter school in Spartanburg County was filed Tuesday with the South Carolina Department of Education.

Organizers behind High Point Academy aim to open doors to the new public school on the west side of the county by the fall of 2013. The school first must earn approval from both the state Charter School Advisory Committee (CSAC) and South Carolina Public Charter School District (SCPCSD).

High Point Co-Executive Director Lori Manning describes the proposed school as a nonreligious, nonprofit community educational charity. She said the school, backed by Faith in Action Fort Worth (FIAFW), will have a heavy emphasis on the arts, technology and hands-on, kinesthetic learning.

Okeydoke. This begs -- begs, pleads, demands -- a little scrutiny. Let's go slow with this: The proposal is "backed by Faith in Action Fort Worth," but it proposes to be a "nonreligious... community educational charity."

One Google search -- only one, folks, because this isn't difficult -- netted a fine 72-page document produced by the state of Texas in 1996, signed by then-Governor George W. Bush, and festooned liberally with quotes from the good governor, titled "Faith in Action: A New Vision for Church-State Cooperation in Texas."

Oh, you're going to love this part of it, found on page 12:

The Unique Status of Religious Providers: Religious-based caregivers face unique concerns. While Texas benefits from numerous faith-based providers who provide top-notch care, countless other would-be caregivers give in to “preemptive capitulation.” Why? Because they often perceive public agencies as less interested in serving children than in punishing those who don’t succumb to state control. Requirements have crept from health, fire, sanitation, and safety into sensitive areas like personnel, program, funding, etc. Many fear being turned into a quasi-government agency via excessive state regulation, and losing their religious distinctiveness in the bargain.

This view may seem exaggerated to some, but it nonetheless acts to discourage many religious agencies who fear government’s “fatal embrace” and believe they will have to sandpaper down their religious vitality for the pleasure of rendering service.

What's the alternative to sandpapering down one's religious vitality, succumbing to state control, being turned into a quasi-government agency via state regulation and losing your religious distinctiveness?

Opening a charter school, of course. Charters have all the benefits of public school funding, but none of the regulation that comes with being a traditional public school. All you have to do is get approved by the state charter school district -- you don't even have to face scrutiny from the local school board whose funding you'll be taking!

Helpfully, Faith in Action Fort Worth opened a Facebook page in February, where visitors can read such posts for organizers as "We sponsor charter schools and offer women's educational programming. Check out our page as we get things rolling...," "We never know when we may be entertaining angels unaware... God is present everywhere!" and "Our office seems to be a hub of faith-related conversation with many different folks from every walk of life. Everyone has a story... And every story has a lesson to be learned...."

I have nothing against parochial schools. Parochial schools are the best choice for some families, and it's good that church denominations offer that option to devout parents.

What feels a little squirrely about the application for High Point Academy is that it's sponsored by an entity that's clearly church-derived, but to satisfy the South Carolina Charter School District's paper-thin separation from parochial schools, this one claims it will be "nonreligious." Profits from public dollars are just that valuable.

Which makes the next sentence in the Herald-Journal's article somewhat discomfiting:

The school’s motto reads “honor, integrity, service.”

“We want to teach character. To have good citizens,” Manning said. “We want to be the high point of education.”

The submission from High Point Academy is one of 11 applications the CSAC will consider within the next 60 days. If the application is found to be in order, it will go to the sponsoring board — in High Point’s case, the SCPCSD. Local school districts also can act as sponsors for charter schools. Sponsors have 30 days to approve or deny an application.

If approved by the SCPCSD, High Point would become a free, public school open to all students in the state.

Manning said an application for High Point Academy Fort Worth also was filed by FIAFW in Texas. She said the model has the potential to be duplicated in other areas.
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Spartanburg Charter School, which opened in 2009, is to date the only charter school in Spartanburg County.

Manning said she hopes High Point will change that and become yet another option for Spartanburg parents.

Manning, a certified teacher and former charter school principal, and the Rev. Katie Stellar, co-executive director, certified teacher and former administrator, are based in Texas. They have about 20 years of combined experience in charter schools.

Here we go again. The co-executive director of a proposed "nonreligious" school is identified as "the Reverend".

Walks like ducks, talks like ducks, swims like ducks, looks like ducks. Clearly, we're not talking about horses and cows, we're talking about ducks, but no one wants to call the duck the duck.

Manning said she wanted to bring their expertise in the charter school field to her hometown. Born in Union and a 1991 graduate of Dorman High School, Manning moved to Texas in 2003 with her husband and has since worked in several capacities with charter schools there.

“I love this city. Always have,” Manning said of Spartanburg. “This is home. It’s coming back to benefit the community I grew up in and love. It’s bringing the knowledge I have home.”

According to High Point’s application filed with the state Department of Education, the school plans to enroll 322 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in its first year, then expand by one grade level each subsequent year through the 12th grade for a total enrollment potential of about 700 students. Leaders also plan to eventually begin a preschool program.

The fine arts focus will provide opportunities for students to participate in piano, dance, theater, art, choir and graphic arts as part of daily electives. Community involvement and a hands-on, applied learning style will further shape the academy’s plan for students.

“The chance for Title 1 students and their families to receive piano, ballet and other fine arts opportunities at no cost to themselves is a tremendous equalizer for students of all races and backgrounds,” the application reads. “High Point is focused on educating and encouraging the leaders of tomorrow.”

Manning said school leaders have a goal of providing secondary students with tablets in lieu of some textbooks and to equip classrooms with the latest technology.

“We’re out there. It’s very cutting edge,” Manning said.

Texas is out there. Spartanburg is nearby.

Speaking of Spartanburg, it's home to seven school districts, each of which has at least one high school. Why not propose to convert at least one high school to a magnet school for arts? Another for sciences? Another for an international baccalaureate program? There's a public school choice bill pending in the Senate that would, for all intents and purposes, allow any student to cross district lines to attend public schools in the next district. Sounds tailor-made to meet the needs of Spartanburg's public schoolchildren.

“Our goal is for all our children to graduate and go on to secondary education.”

The application states that FIAFW has a reserve of $30,000 to contribute to its charter campus in Spartanburg, but additional funding is anticipated from grants and donations.

Once the school is further along in the application process, Manning said organizers — including an 11-member planning committee — will begin searching for a space, somewhere near the intersection of I-85 and I-26.

There's not even a location, but the plan is laid to enroll 322 children next fall, with $30,000 and the promise of grants and donations.

Maybe a church will undertake to sponsor them, too. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Bojangles donates books to honor Upstate teachers

First, congratulations to those teachers who have been selected as Teachers of the Year by their peers in those schools where that is the process.

Second, congratulations to Bojangles for recognizing the value of great teaching and for its donation of books to the honored teachers.

This note in today's Spartanburg Herald-Journal identifies that county's teachers of the year and gives credit to Bojangles for its participation:

Recently Bojangles' presented hundreds of books to local District Teachers of the Year. This donation event was one of 16 planned for this year, and is part of Bojangles' ongoing partnership with South Carolina Future Minds, which is designed to support teachers across the state who make a positive impact on their students and the future of South Carolina through their commitment to education.

Teachers honored at the event included: South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (SCSDB) Teacher of the Year Carrie Ramella works with ninth through 12th graders in the deaf high school on speechlanguage therapy. She has an undergraduate degree from Columbia College and earned her Masters of Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of South Carolina.

Spartanburg School District One Teacher of the Year Laura Dickson teaches physical education at O.P. Earle Elementary School in Landrum and says that the rising epidemic of obesity in our children motivated her to become a P.E. teacher. It is Dickson's hope that their experience in elementary P.E. will lead to a lifetime of health and wellness.

Spartanburg School District Two Teacher of the Year Patricia Hardee is employed at Boiling Springs Elementary School, where she teaches third grade. Hardee believes that, as a teacher, she has the power to transform lives, encourage, teach and love children for the majority of their day. She finds this to be an awesome responsibility and one that she takes great pride in.

Spartanburg School District Three Teacher of the Year Veronica Carroll tries to inspire her fifth grade math students at Cowpens Elementary School by creating an exciting classroom. She works to create a love of math for her students through the use of music, rap and hands-on activities. Carroll loves when she is able to teach a student something they thought they could not do or that was confusing to them at first.

Spartanburg School District Four Teacher of the Year Tina Harrell is the library media specialist at Woodruff Middle School where she believes the best part of her job is learning alongside her students.

Spartanburg School District Five Teacher of the Year Christy Emerson believes that building a strong literary foundation for her first grade students at River Ridge Elementary School will help them succeed in other areas of academic instruction. She considers her ability to create an environment where children love learning as one of her greatest accomplishments. Emerson refers to her first grade students as “Super Kids” and strives to help them become the best they can be.

Spartanburg School District Seven Teacher of the Year Nancy Crowe teaches adapted physical education at McCarthy Teszler School in Spartanburg and enjoys inspiring her awesome and unique students to turn their disabilities into abilities.

“Bojangles' is proud to continue its support of education in the Palmetto State,” said Bojangles' President and CEO Randy Kibler. “Partnering with South Carolina Future Minds and the Teacher of the Year program for the third consecutive year gives us the opportunity to thank South Carolina's outstanding teachers for their dedication to the nearly 700,000 students currently enrolled in the public education system.” This year Bojangles' will be donating nearly 3,000 books in honor of District Teachers of the Year.

Betty A. Padgett, career educator, dies in Spartanburg

From Sunday's Spartanburg Herald-Journal:

Betty Aiken Padgett, 83, of Boiling Springs, died Friday, March 2, 2012 at RoseCrest. Born September 28, 1928 in Spartanburg County, she was the widow of the late Glenn Hicks Padgett and daughter of the late Tommy Dee Aiken and Annie Mason Aiken Hayes.

Mrs. Padgett retired from Boiling Springs High School after 28 years of service, a member of Boiling Springs First Baptist Church, a graduate of Spartanburg High School and Winthrop College, and a life time member of the South Carolina Education Association and the National Education Association.
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An online guest register is available at www.floydmortuary.com.

Thank you, Mrs. Padgett.

How much does BMW pay our state in corporate income taxes?

Great news from the Spartanburg Herald-Journal: "Germany-based automaker BMW's Spartanburg County production plant was the country's largest vehicle exporter in 2011, the company announced Thursday. The value of Spartanburg-based BMW Manufacturing Co.'s exports through the Port of Charleston totaled $7.4 billion, a 68 percent increase over $4.4 billion in 2010."

Great questions: (1) How much did BMW pay in corporate income taxes to the state of South Carolina for 2010, and how much will it pay for 2011, thanks to the huge increase in sales? And (2) How much did BMW pay in property taxes to Greenville County and other counties where its plant and facilities exist?

How soon can we expect answers to these questions?

According to the company, the data, which was provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, confirmed its Spartanburg facility had moved from the largest vehicle exporter from the U.S. to non-NAFTA countries to the country's leading automotive exporter to the world.

BMW's announcement comes two days after the S.C. Department of Commerce and State Ports Authority released a report stating South Carolina had surpassed Michigan in 2011 as the largest exporter of vehicles in the country.

“This is huge news not just for us, but for the entire state,” said BMW Manufacturing Co. spokesman Max Metcalf. “It's the kind of recognition that speaks to the hard work of our employees, our suppliers and our network as a whole.”

The Spartanburg plant is the sole producer of the company's X3, X5 and X6 Sports Activity Vehicles. It represents a $5 billion investment in about 4 million square feet of production space and at least 7,000 employees.

BMW said it exported 192,000 vehicles, about 70 percent of the 276,000 vehicles it produced in 2011, through the Port of Charleston last year to 130 markets worldwide.

The plant exported 110,000 vehicles in 2010 out of the 160,000 it produced.

“Since the plant's production grew 73 percent in 2011, the plant's year-end export value proves the company's significant contribution to the U.S. balance of trade and strengthens its position as the leading provider of premium vehicles,” Josef Kerscher, president of BMW Manufacturing Co., said in a statement.

The company said more than 1,000 vehicles are produced at the plant each day.

BMW was named the state's exporter of the year for 2010.

In January, the company announced its plan to invest $900 million and hire 1,000 employees at its local plant over the next three years to add the new X4 and ramp up total production to 350,000 vehicles per year. BMW also said it will hire 300 workers for the plant this year and up its output to 300,000 vehicles.

The introduction of the next generation X3 was likely the biggest reason for the plant's export growth last year. BMW Group said it sold 117,944 X3 units across the globe last year, a 156 percent increase from the 46,004 sold in 2010.

Metcalf also attributed some of the company's success to its move in 2011 from the Union Pier in Charleston to the Columbus Street Terminal.

“BMW vehicles manufactured in South Carolina continue to be a major contributor to the Port of Charleston's overall success,” Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the State Ports Authority, said in a statement. “Consistently strong global sales have driven BMW's volume growth at the port, and we've completed significant improvements to Columbus Street Terminal in anticipation of the ever-rising demand for their product.”

Herald-Journal: "Public education is not some leftist tenet"

Hosanna.

Why does it take a potential electoral crisis -- six Upstate lawmakers appear to be in hot water for their votes against the most recent iteration of ye olde Sanford-Haley voucher scheme -- for one of the state's daily newspapers to make such a plain and clear defense of public education in South Carolina?

Similarly, why does it take such a crisis for one of our daily papers to openly defy the anti-public education group "South Carolinians for Responsible Government"?

SCRG, whose funding is believed to have roots in New York City and elsewhere (so says A, and B, and C, and D, and E, and F), has played The Woman Scorned since the legislature in May defeated the 2011 version of the same old voucher (or tuition tax-credit, take your pick) plan that Governor Mark Sanford first tried to sell us in 2003. It appears that some of Spartanburg's own lawmakers, including some who have, at one time or another, advocated some sort of school reform, and who may even have accepted campaign donations from pro-voucher sources, are among those who voted down the voucher plan. So these have been branded with their own numerific label -- the ominous "Spartanburg Six," like the "Fab Four" or the "Dirty Dozen" -- and the modern Red Shirts are out for revenge in the name of ideological purity.

It's this purity that the Herald-Journal's editors take up in yesterday's edition, writing, "It’s an odd assertion that a 'true conservative' is someone who wants the government to subsidize private education and that those who want to protect the public schools are somehow phony conservatives."

Indeed, the earliest South Carolinians who advocated for free public education for all of its children were conservatives -- and pro-business conservatives, at that.

But that’s the allegation six Spartanburg lawmakers are facing. They voted against the latest school voucher scheme and fell afoul of the groups established with out-of-state money to push this agenda in South Carolina. They also angered some tea party groups that are quick to believe any allegation of phony conservatism.

The truth is that the Spartanburg Six — Reps. Rita Allison, Steve Parker, Eddie Tallon, Mike Forrester, Derham Cole and Doug Brannon— did the right thing.

The measure billed as “school choice” would not have opened up new choices to parents or children. Its overall effect would have been to make private school more affordable for parents already able to make that choice. It offered such parents a tax credit to help pay the tuition. Poor parents, who can’t pay the tuition up front and don’t make enough money to take advantage of the tax credit, would have been left out in the cold. The bill offered them only the unlikely promise of privately financed scholarships.

The bill would not have improved any schools. It would have taken scarce resources away from the public schools, and it would have eroded the independence of private schools. Government money always comes with government strings. If this voucher bill had passed, it would have been only a matter of time before the General Assembly applied its accountability system and school report cards to private schools. Lawmakers would have declared that the state could not be subsidizing private schools without holding them accountable. Sooner or later, private schools would have to adopt the same tests and curriculum as public schools.

It’s time to get past the lie that parents who pay to send their children to private schools pay for education twice, or that they pay for schools they don’t use. The truth is that we do not pay taxes to support public schools solely to educate our own children. We support a public school system so that we can live in an educated society. We support a public school system because the alternative is an illiterate populace, rampant poverty and a hopeless future.

This has to be the most rational editorial published by the Herald-Journal in recent memory. And though it doesn't name SCRG, the editorial may as well be an open letter to that group and its out-of-state sponsors.

The Spartanburg Six voted to protect the public schools because they recognize that there is no reasonable alternative. It’s not because they don’t want parents to have choices, but they recognize that there will be no free-market utopia where tax credits allow all parents the choice between excellent private academies and the government is out of the education business. That plan simply isn’t realistic.

The Spartanburg Six are not slaves to the teachers’ unions or some liberal agenda. Public education is not some leftist tenet. It is not some new liberal invention. It’s the method this nation has used for generations to create the success we have had. That system isn’t perfect. Our schools are struggling in many ways, but voucher schemes like the one rejected by the Spartanburg Six would not help.

Read these words again: "Public education is not some leftist tenet. It is not some new liberal invention. It’s the method this nation has used for generations to create the success we have had."

What a statement, a declaration of the true good that went into establishing public education and the true good that has come -- and continues to come -- from public education. So I repeat my question: Why does it take a potential electoral crisis for one of the state's daily newspapers to make such a plain and clear defense of public education in South Carolina?

I hope that every district superintendent in South Carolina sends a printed copy of this editorial to every principal, teacher, secretary, custodian, cafeteria worker and bus driver in South Carolina with a thank-you note, as an illustration that there is a strain of common sense and decency that runs underground in our state, that the thankless work our public school personnel do is important, and that the occasional and slight scraps of support issued by a public voice ought to be held up and celebrated. Give the editors of the Herald-Journal some positive reinforcement for their declaration, whatever their motivation, and they may feel courageous enough to say it again, and again.

Contact the editors here (area code 864):

Horeth, Chris - Perspective, letters to the editor
chris.horeth@shj.com Phone: 562-7267
Parris, Lou - Stroller
lou.parris@shj.com Phone: 562-7204
Smith, Michael - Executive Editor
michael.smith@shj.com Phone: 562-7200

On the same day, in the same edition, the same editors invited Rep. Doug Brannon to publish a column explaining his choice to oppose the voucher scheme. It, too, bears reading, and Brannon deserves the same thanks for standing up for public schools.

If the legislature hadn't gone to such a Byzantine system for email communications, I'd post Brannon's email address to make it easier to thank him. Instead, call his legislative office and leave a message of thanks: (803) 212-6876.

Brannon writes in the Herald-Journal:

After significant thought on my part and the urging of many, I decided to write this to explain why I made the motion to table and voted to table H-3407 (the South Carolina Educational Opportunity Act).

There are four primary reasons the motion to table was made.

Reason 1: The cost of H-3407 in terms of reduced general fund revenue is impossible to calculate. Under the proposed bill, there are no limits put upon the amount an individual or corporation may contribute to a scholarship organization, no limit to the number of scholarship organizations that can be formed, and the bill allows for "stacking" of tax credits in such a way that multiple taxpayers could claim tax credits on the same student. Under this proposed bill, all taxpayers could have eliminated 95 percent of their state tax liability.

Reason 2: This bill offered choice to a limited group of taxpayers, and none of these groups was the intended benefactor. Under H-3407, a private school could choose to accept new students or scholarship students. There was no mandate that private schools join in this choice plan. Corporations or individuals could choose to make contributions in lieu of paying state taxes, and those families that can currently afford private school tuition could choose to take a tax credit against their state tax liability.

The average annual tuition at a private school in South Carolina is $8,720.36 Under H-3407, the total scholarship available to low-income families (the only families that qualify) during the first year is $2,878.00. Who will pay the difference? For families that do not qualify for a scholarship, a tax credit is available in the amount of up to $2,878.00. A tax credit does not result in a tax refund. A tax credit does not put money in your hand.

In South Carolina, there are 149 private schools. Of those, 119 are church related. If a private school that is affiliated with a church accepts a scholarship student, under this bill, that school may not ask that student for a profession of faith, to worship or to pray. We would be asking private church-related schools to create a separate secular curriculum. Do we really want separate but equal again?

Reason 3: H-3407 may not be constitutional. In Williams v. Illinois, the United States Supreme Court said that "a law nondiscriminatory on its face may be grossly discriminatory in its operation." As stated here, this bill did not offer choice to the low-income or those in failing schools — it offered choice to those who can afford it.

Reason 4: One person's choice should not come at the expense of others. Because this bill would have resulted in a significant reduction in general fund revenue, this so-called choice would have come at the expense of others in the form of less money for other services provided by the state of South Carolina.

I encourage each of you to read H-3407. Please see for yourself the flaws in this bill and why it was bad for South Carolina.