Rex recommends first cost-of-living raise for teachers in three years, bus funding
September 11, 2010
COLUMBIA – State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex’s 2011-12 budget recommendations to Governor Mark Sanford call on legislators to give teachers their first cost-of-living raises in three years and also to provide a lifeline to the state’s oldest-in-the-nation bus fleet.
“Local school districts have eliminated between 3,000 and 4,000 teaching positions over the past two years,” Rex said, “and the teachers who remain face up to 78,000 mandatory furlough days this year that amount to salary cuts of up to $20 million. Their classes have more students because of state budget cuts, and they’re teaching with outdated textbooks and software. On top of that, student poverty levels have increased dramatically because thousands of parents have lost their jobs.
“Our teachers haven’t had a cost-of-living raise in two years, and I’ve heard very few complaints from them because they understood that holding the line on raises saved teaching jobs across the state. We owe it to our teachers to give them a cost-of-living raise next year.”
Rex recommended an additional $40 million to ensure a safe, reliable, and efficient bus system for transporting students to and from school.
This funding, he said, would offset budget reductions, replace nonrecurring funds and replace some of the state’s aging buses.
“This isn’t an area we can continue to cut and expect our ability to provide transportation to remain intact,” Rex said. “These buses are safe to operate, but breakdowns are increasing. You can’t operate
24- and 25-year-old buses and not have breakdowns that keep kids from getting to school on time, or getting home on time.”
The State Superintendent also called for $3.1 million to continue phasing in the replacement for South Carolina’s 10-year-old software
system used by local schools and districts. The new system,
PowerSchool, provides teachers and other district officials with easy access to more detailed student information – everything from test scores, academic courses and attendance to discipline and immunization records. It allows local educators to analyze performance data to identify areas of strength or weakness for each student, monitor student progress, and keep student data updated electronically.
PowerSchool also provides parents with an on-line portal to access their children’s personal records remotely. Some districts already have that capability, but some high-poverty districts don’t.
PowerSchool provides it for all parents in all districts.
Acknowledging the state’s grim budget realities, Rex said legislators would have to increase state K-12 funding by $772 million next year just to meet the requirements in state law. The Base Student Cost, the fundamental building block of local school funding set by South Carolina’s Education Finance Act, has been repeatedly cut over the last two years. The current BSC is $1,620, but the projected 2012 BSC under the EFA formula is $2,790. The current $1,620 BSC is roughly at
FY1995 levels.
Rex said he was not requesting additional funding for several key priorities, including the expansion of kindergarten for at-risk four-year-old children and funding for technology, health and fitness initiatives, and updated textbooks.
“Next year, the state will not receive federal stimulus dollars, and districts are going to be forced to absorb those cuts. And because South Carolina hasn’t met the federal maintenance of effort for higher education as required by the new EduJobs Act, our districts may not be eligible for $143 million in federal funds to avoid teacher layoffs, furloughs, and reductions in pay.”
“It’s time to get our fiscal house in order,” said Rex, who renewed his call for comprehensive tax and funding reform.
“All South Carolina students should graduate from high school ready for careers or college,” Rex said. “Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between the needs of our students and how we fund education, and this disconnect will have a long-term impact on our state and its economy until collectively we make education our first priority.”
Rex said the state’s average school poverty index – a calculation that combines eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches and Medicaid eligibility – increased from 72.7 percent in 2006-07 to 74.7 percent in 2008-09.
