Letter To Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee will taking up the School Choice legislation over the next several days.  Following is a letter that I have sent to Committe members:

                As consideration the School Choice legislation begins, I would suggest the following points be considered: 

                Private schools would not be fully accountable for their performance.  While the current choice bill requires schools to publish results of students’ standardized tests, private schools would not be required to use the same standardized tests as public schools.  Nor will there be any real oversight to the testing process to assure that all students are tested and that the testing environment is regulated, as is the case for public schools.  Further, private schools would not have any obligation to keep working with students who are not achieving at an acceptable level, or to even accept high risk students.  The “accountability” in this legislation is more show than substance, and would not promote anything that resembles accurate comparisons.    

                If proponents of this legislation actually believe that it will truly benefit economically disadvantaged students, as they keep saying they do, the following additional provisions should not be a problem for them:

• A specified benchmark as to the number of economically disadvantaged students that would be served through this legislation from each county in the state.   If the benchmark in each county is not met in three years, the legislation would automatically sunset.
• A requirement that the academic progress in reading, writing, and math of economically disadvantaged students served in private schools match or exceed the progress of economically disadvantaged students in public schools, as measured by whatever test is required by the state for public schools.  If performance of the private school students does not meet or exceed that of like public school students at the end of three years, the legislation would also sunset.

                An independent consortium of researchers from our state universities could be charged with collecting and analyzing the data involved.  If School Choice proponents object to these provisions, any sensible person would need to ask why they are afraid of transparency and accountability

        Thank you for your consideration of these points and for your support of public education in our state. 

Dr. Frank E. Morgan, Superintendent

Kershaw County School District

 

 

 

Super News From CHS And NCHS

Super news from two of our high schools yesterday…

Camden High School Principal Dan Matthews told me that through a partnership with Benedict College, a number of Camden High students would be involved in “Upward Bound” this summer.  Through this program, these students will benefit from tutoring and mentoring and have opportunities to make college visits.

North Central High School Principal Worth Thomasson told me that the NCHS senior class had earned over $2 million in scholarships, a record amount for the school.