Legislative Update – January 27, 2017

The third week of session was one of great fanfare and historic moments.

Fruit Basket Turnover

With former Lt. Governor Henry McMaster being sworn in as the state’s 117^th governor on Tuesday, a series of historic events took place.  Prior to the swearing in of McMaster, Senator Hugh Leatherman resigned as the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  The individual holding that positions ascends to Lieutenant Governor when that position becomes open.  Senator Leatherman did not want to move into the position of Lieutenant Governor so Senator Leatherman resigned prior to the office becoming vacant.

Upon gaveling in on Wednesday the Senate received the message from Senator Leatherman regarding his resignation and then proceeded to elect a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  Senator Shane Martin nominated Senator Kevin Bryant for the position. Senator Bryant was elected.  After being granted “privilege of the floor” and making his remarks, Senator Bryant was sworn in as the state’s new Lieutenant Governor.

As the new Lieutenant Governor Bryant’s first act was to call for the election of President Pro Tempore.  Senator Luke Rankin offered Senator Leatherman and upon finishing his remarks, Senator Shane Massey offered Senator Harvey Peeler for the office as well.  Upon the conclusion of Senator Massey’s remarks the Senate proceeded to a vote.  Senator Leatherman was once again elected to the position of President Pro Tempore of the Senate by a vote of 28 to 16.  After the vote, the Senate adjourned for the day.

One Step Closer to an Appointed Superintendent

Both the House and the Senate made steady progress in advancing legislation to make the State Superintendent of Education an appointed position.

On Tuesday, January 24^th, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider S. 137. This bill deals with the Constitutional amendment needed to make the position appointed.  Senator Malloy expressed in subcommittee his concern over the question’s wording and proposed an amendment in full committee to have the question phrased in such a way as to require the voters to cast a “no” vote to make this an appointed position.  An example question might be, “Do you want to retain the right to elect the State Superintendent of Education?” The amendment failed and the bill received a favorable report.  It is expected that Senator Malloy will address his concern once again when the bill is discussed on the Senate floor.

On Wednesday, January 25^th, the Senate Education Committee gave a favorable report to the amended S. 27. This bill sets out the qualifications of the State Superintendent of Education.  Last week the bill was amended to specify that the education experience must be “public” education.  During the discussion of the bill, several members noted that they may amend further to strengthen the education requirements when the bill is discussed on the Senate floor. Senator Sheheen stated he plans to submit an amendment to clarify the timing of the various steps involved with transitioning the position from an elected to an appointed position, and to ensure a vacancy is clearly and appropriately provided for.

On Tuesday, January 24^th, the House Judiciary Committee gave favorable reports to H. 3036, the House companion bill to S. 27, and to H. 3146, the House companion bill to S. 137.  Chairman Delleney offered an amendment to H. 3036, dealing with the qualification of the superintendent, to strike the word “extensive” which was adopted.  Two members, Representatives King and Norrell, voted against the bill.  House Bill 3146 received a favorable report with two members, Representatives Norrell and Rutherford, voting against the bill.  Now, as amended, all four House and the Senate bills are identical.

State Board of Education Regulations

The Senate Education Committee gave a favorable report to R 43-274.1 At-Risk Students (Document 4656) which included minor changes deleting references to PASS and HSAP. Even though R 43-80 Operation of Public Pupil Transportation Services (Document 4658) received a favorable report from the subcommittee, the full committee asked that the regulation be withdrawn and resubmitted to clarify the statutory references in the regulation. The full committee supported the subcommittee’s recommendation to have the SCDE withdraw and resubmit R 43-279 Minimum Standards of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Enforcement (Document 4657), and R 43-210 School Resource Officers (Document 4659).

House K-12 Subcommittee Action

The House Education and Public Works Committee met on Wednesday morning to discuss three education related bills that were approved by the subcommittee. The first bill, H. 3427, requires the State Board of Education to adopt grade appropriate standards for computer science and computational thinking and computer coding for grades 9-12 by August 2018, and requires each public high school and public charter school to offer at least one computer science course beginning with the 2019-20 school year. The fiscal impact statement presented to the committee generated a lot of discussion.  The fiscal impact statement shows a total impact to the state general fund for the Department of approximately $1.3 million over the first two years of implementation and a $19.2 million fiscal impact to the local school districts in fiscal year 2019-20, the third year of full implementation. The impact to local school districts was based upon hiring an additional computer science teacher for each high school.

The second bill, H. 3220, received a favorable report by the full committee.  It re-establishes the South Carolina Education and Economic Development Coordinating Council.  The makeup of the council is as it was established in the initial Education and Economic Development Act.

The final education bill, H. 3221, also received a favorable report by the full committee. This bill requires the Department of Education to implement a program for assisting and intervening in school districts exhibiting fiscal and budgetary concern.  The bill establishes three levels of fiscal concern – fiscal watch, fiscal caution, and fiscal emergency.  It outlines the various characteristics and procedures required at each level.

Education Oversight Committee Budget Request

On Tuesday, January 24^th, the Education Oversight Committee presented their budget to the Ways and Means K-12 Subcommittee.  Melanie Barton presented on behalf of the Committee asked that the following be funded out of the Education Improvement Act.

• Recurring Funds for Computer Science Task Force (New)                                                  $500,000
• S2TEM Centers SC (Increase)                                                                                                     $1,250,000
• State Agencies’ Teacher Salary (Increase)                                                                                $394,415
• National Board Certification (Decrease)                                                                                  ($3,000,000)
• SC ETV (Increase)                                                                                                                          $200,000
• Teacher Supplies (Increase)                                                                                                         $357,500
• CERRA – Teaching Fellows (Increase)                                                                                       $1,200,000
• State Assessment Program (Decrease)                                                                                      ($2,044,000)
• Industry Certifications/Credentials (Increase)                                                                         $4,000.000
• Aid to Districts Diagnostic Support (New)                                                                                 $6,100,000
• Accountability – Value Added (New)                                                                                          $1,400,000
• SC Public Charter School District (Increase)                                                                             $22,898,631
• Robotics (New)                                                                                                                                 $125,000
• Department of Commerce (Increase)                                                                                          $150,000
• SC Education Innovation Fund (Increase)                                                                                 $6,068,454

State Department of Education Budget Request

On Wednesday, January 25^th, Superintendent Spearman presented the agency’s budget request. Listed below, in order of priority, are those that were discussed.

• EFA: Increase base student cost to $2500. The subcommittee discussed the strain on locals with EFA required match.
• School buses: $10 million in recurring funds and $95 million in nonrecurring funds to replace old inefficient buses (1800) that cost 41 cents per mile versus 21 cents per mile. There was discussion about lease options, as well as privatization. SDE stated they were looking at all options. The 15-year replacement cycle would require $34 million a year.
• Technical Assistance: $4.4 million to bring in additional schools.
• Power School: $1.6 million for security improvements.  However, members expressed concerns about data accuracy in Power School.  SDE advised that the funding is needed to do what the Legislature wants and to collect needed data.
• Bus Driver Salary: to provide supplements to assist school districts in retaining and obtaining/competing for drivers.
• Student Engagement Survey: $750,000
• Virtual SC:  $3.75 million
• CATE:  $3 million for CATE Office changes such as computer science and modernized vocational equipment.
• Teacher Supplies: $357,000.
• ADEPT: assisting, developing, and evaluating teachers.
• Mechanic Salaries: funding for increases in mechanic salaries to support bus fleet.
• Educator Evaluation System: $1.6 million.
• Technical and Work Based Education: $1.9 million.
• Instructional Materials: $53 million (supplies more than 42 million books).
• Personalized Learning: $200,000

Senate Labor Commerce and Industry

The Senate Labor Commerce and Industry Committee met on Thursday, January 26^th, to consider S. 218.  The purpose of the bill is to prevent local governmental entities from adopting their own laws or mandates related to requiring employee benefits on private sector businesses within their jurisdictions.  However, the local governments or political subdivisions can establish their own employee benefits for their own employees.  (See subsection D).  Senator Massey introduced the bill based upon a trend of similar legislation in other states and due to rumblings that some local political subdivisions in South Carolina where discussing passage of certain benefit requirements for all businesses in their districts that were more burdensome than state policy.  This legislation will provide a uniform policy for the state. The bill received a favorable report.

Legislative Update – January 20, 2017

The second week of session had a lot of action with many House and Senate full committees and subcommittees meeting to move bills to their respective calendars for discussion.

Appoint or Elect

Both the House and the Senate took up bills to appoint the State Superintendent of Education.  In both bodies the process of moving to an appointed position was divided into two bills. One bill deals with the referendum question and the other bill deals with the qualifications of an appointed superintendent.

On Tuesday, the Senate Education K-12 Subcommittee met to discuss S. 27 which sets out the qualification requirements of an appointed superintendent. The bill sets out two experience options by which an individual could qualify.  The first option is with

“extensive experience in the field of education including, but not limited to, service as a classroom teacher, principal, other school or school district administrator, school district superintendent, member of a school board, or other education policy making body at either the state or local level or any combination of them.”

The second option is with

“extensive experience in operational and financial management in any field of expertise including, but not limited to, finance, economics, accounting, law, or business.”

After extensive discussion, the subcommittee adopted an amendment to specify that the individual using the first option for qualifying must have “experience in the field of public education. “  The bill received a favorable as amended report and moves to the full Senate Education Committee agenda.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee took up the referendum bill, S. 137.  This bill specifies that the State Superintendent of Education would become an appointed office beginning in January of 2023.  As explained in the meeting, if the resolution is enacted, voters would decide in 2018 if the office of superintendent should be appointed.  If approved by the voters, the last election of the State Superintendent of Education would take place in 2018 and the individual elected governor in 2022 would appoint the next superintendent upon taking office in January 2023. The bill received a favorable report and will be on the agenda for the full Judiciary Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 24.

The House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee discussed H. 3036, the companion bill to S. 27, and H. 3146, the companion bill to S. 137 on Thursday morning.  Both bills received a favorable report.  The subcommittee amended H. 3036 to specify that one of the options for qualifying for appointment is “extensive experience in the field of public education.” These bills will move to the next full Judiciary Committee agenda.

Accountability Recommendations Final

The Education Oversight Committee met on Tuesday giving their final approval to the Academic Standards and Assessment Subcommittee’s recommendations for a single state-wide accountability system.  Two amendments were offered to modify their recommendations and after much discussion were adopted.  The first amendment was offered by Senator Hembree. His amendment proposed to use the five performance rates of excellent, good, average, below average, and at-risk for both the summative and individual rating indicators. A second amendment was offered by Senator Matthews on behalf of Superintendent Spearman, a non-voting member of the committee.  This amendment reduced the number of state-wide assessments administered to students.  The subcommittee recommendation was to test science in grade four, social studies in grade five, and both science and social studies in grades 6-8.  The adopted amendment continues the rotation of science and social studies testing in the middle school with sixth graders taking science, seventh graders taking social studies, and eighth graders taking science. The plan will now be presented to the General Assembly for the drafting of legislation to implement the plan.

State Board of Education Regulations

The Senate Education K-12 Subcommittee moved two State Board of Education regulations to the full Senate Education Committee agenda and requested that the State Board of Education withdraw and resubmit two regulations.  The first regulation receiving a favorable report was R 43-274.1 At-Risk Students (Document 4656). Minor changes deleting references to PASS and HSAP were made to this regulation. The second regulation receiving a favorable report was R 43-80 Operation of Public Pupil Transportation Services (Document 4658). The purpose of the changes to this regulation is to allow for greater flexibility in certifying drivers to operate school buses.

Two regulations, R 43-279 Minimum Standards of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Enforcement (Document 4657), and R 43-210 School Resource Officers (Document 4659), did not receive favorable recommendations.  The subcommittee requested that these regulations be withdrawn and resubmitted with changes.  Several of the members were concerned that changes to the language in R 43-279 would lead to “criminalizing” student misconduct. R 43-210 was returned since it was seen as “traveling with” the previous regulation.

House K-12 Subcommittee Action

The House K-12 Subcommittee met on Wednesday morning to discuss three bills. The first bill, H. 3427, received a favorable report as amended. The amended bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt grade appropriate standards for computer science and computational thinking and computer coding for grades 9-12 by August 2018, and requires each public high school and public charter school to offer at least one computer science course beginning with the 2019-20 school year. In addition, the amendment offered on behalf of the State Department of Education by Representative Felder, requires the Department to offer professional development to teachers teaching computer science, assist districts in developing partnerships to engage students in computer science, and to outline educational and degree requirements for computer science teachers.

The second bill, H. 3220, received a favorable report.  It re-establishes the South Carolina Education and Economic Development Coordinating Council.  The makeup of the council is as it was established in the initial Education and Economic Development Act.

The final bill, H. 3221, also received a favorable report. This bill requires the Department of Education to implement a program for assisting and intervening in school districts exhibiting fiscal and budgetary concern.  The bill establishes three levels of fiscal concern – fiscal watch, fiscal caution, and fiscal emergency.  It outlines the various characteristics and procedures required at each level. This same bill was reported out of the House last session but failed to make it out of the Senate before time expired.

 

Glenn Price Honored

I was very excited to learn that Lugoff-Elgin High School Band Director Glenn Price is being inducted into the South Carolina Music Educators Association Hall of Fame.  This is a hugely deserved and long overdue honor!  Congratulations!

LEHS Art Show

A very impressive presentation of the Lugoff-Elgin High School Art Show…..

 

MLK Day Celebration

The Kershaw County celebration of Martin Luther King Day is one of the best local celebrations that I have seen.  This year’s event was no exception.  Wonderful music, great speaker, great fellowship.  I am honored that the District is able to host the celebration in the Camden High School auditorium.  One of my favorite events of the year!

Legislative Update – January 13, 2017

New Faces – New Places

The 122^nd session of the General Assembly convened on Tuesday, January 10^th. Many new faces adorn the offices and halls of the Blatt and Gressette buildings. The Senate welcomed eight new members with four of them being former House members. This is the largest new member group in the Senate in quite a long while.  The House welcomed 18 new members.

With so many new faces, it was only logical to have new members on the education and finance committees. The new members of the Senate Education Committee are Ross Turner, Greenville; Rex Rice (former House member), Pickens; Sandy Senn, Charleston/Dorchester; and Scott Talley (former House member), Greenville/Spartanburg.  New Senate Finance Committee members include Chauncey Gregory, Lancaster/York; Karl Allen, Greenville; Sean Bennette, Berkeley/Charleston/Dorchester; and Tom Corbin, Greenville/Spartanburg.

The House Education Committee has five new members. They are Terry Alexander, Darlington/Florence; Linda “Lin” Bennett, Charleston/Dorchester; William Scott Cogswell Jr., Charleston; Jason Elliott, Greenville; Patsy Knight, Colleton/Dorchester; and John “Jay” West, IV, Abbeville/Anderson.  The House Ways and Means Committee has three new members. They are Nathan Ballentine, Lexington/Richland; Kirkman Finley, III, Richland; and Michael “Mike” Sottile, Charleston.

There will be three new faces as subcommittee chairs.  The new Senate Education K-12 Subcommittee Chairman is Senator Greg Hembree who represents Horry County.  The new Senate Finance K-12 Subcommittee chairman has not yet been announced. In the House, the new Ways and Means K-12 Subcommittee chairman is Representative Bill Whitmire who represents Oconee County.

With the shortening of the session (S.267), there are new important dates to remember. The final day of the 2017 legislative session will be Thursday, May 11^th.  The deadline for bills to “cross-over” without a 2/3s vote for consideration from the receiving chamber is now April 10^th.

House Begins Budget Work

With the full Ways and Means scheduled to begin budget deliberations the week of February 20^th, all subcommittees began budget hearings this week.  Chairman Whitmire heard from Wil Lou Gray, SC Public Charter School District and First Steps.  Wil Lou Gray requested $270,895 recurring funds for technology initiatives, a pay plan allocation and an FTE.  They also requested $230,000 nonrecurring funds for underground utilities, HVAC, and archival work.

The SC Public Charter School District (SCPCSD) requested $19,437,803 increase from the previous year’s allocation due to projections of schools and student growth. In addition to this request, the SCPCSD proposed a proviso to launch what they call South Carolina Opportunity Schools. The proviso would create a public-private partnership to create 20 new high-quality charter schools over the next 10 years.  They are asking for $5 million from the General Assembly (with $5.5 million from private philanthropy) to develop and launch new charter schools across the state in the highest need communities (to include Abbeville Lawsuit Plaintiff districts) as defined by poverty thresholds.

First Steps to School Readiness requested $2.18 million in recurring funds to expand their home visitation programs for the local partnerships.  They also requested $143,000 for a data system to meet the requirements described in the reauthorization statute.

The subcommittee will meet again on January 25^th at 10:00 am and will hear from the State Superintendent of Education and the Department of Education.

Senate Education Hears from Superintendent

Superintendent Spearman began her testimony to the Senate Education Committee by highlighting accomplishments. She listed the following as recent accomplishments of the SCDE.

• 30 transformation coaches have been placed in low performing schools to aid in student performance.
• 858 new buses have been placed on the road.  178 of those buses we done through a lease program.
• The facilities review team is hard at work evaluating the conditions of the state’s facilities.
• SCDE is sending out funding to districts for industry credentials.
• The efficiency study should be underway soon. It was delayed because of a protest, but hope to have it begin very soon.
• Higher expectations are paying off for our students.  Of those taking the AP courses, in 9 out of the 10 most common exams, South Carolina students are scoring higher than the national average.

The Superintendent then moved on to outline her plan for next year by highlighting her budget request. The following requests are being made by the Superintendent in the order of priority.

• $107,144,508 recurring for EFA and related fringe. This is an additional $150 to the base student cost (BSC) bringing the BSC to $2,500.
• $95 million nonrecurring for the replacement/leasing of new school buses. She is also requesting $10 million in recurring funds.
• $4.3 million recurring for increased technical assistance to underperforming schools and districts.
• $4.25 million recurring for procurement of a learning management system to ensure districts and teachers have access to high quality curriculum and coursework.
• $19.2 million recurring to increase state funded bus driver salaries to $7.70 per hour.
• $1.6 million recurring for PowerSchool security upgrades, and to ensure that backups to the data are done frequently by the State.
• $1.3 million recurring for Level Data to ensure that data are being entered correctly and meaningful information is available.
• $750,000 recurring for a student engagement survey.
• $3.76 million recurring for Virtual SC.
• $3 million recurring for industry certification/credentials. Current funding is nonrecurring.
• $356,000 recurring for teacher supplies to maintain the $275 reimbursement level.
• $874,000 recurring for extended mentoring to new teachers beyond the induction year.
• $2.7 million recurring for mechanic salary increases.
• $1.7 million recurring for expansion of the ADEPT implementation.
• $2 million recurring for Tech Prep work based learning.
• $1.2 million recurring for literacy initiatives.
• $42 million nonrecurring and $12 million recurring for instructional materials.
• $200,000 recurring for continued buildout of personalized learning.
• $2 million recurring for employer fringe contribution.
• $60,000 nonrecurring for SCDE operation and support.
• $1 million recurring for Adult Education. Last year’s funds were nonrecurring.
• $30 million recurring for EIA Employer Fringe contribution.
• $2.6 million recurring for 3.25% pay increase fringe benefits.

Accountability System and the EOC

The Academic Standards and Assessments Subcommittee of the Education Oversight Committee (EOC), which is charged by the General Assembly to recommend a single accountability system this year, approved a revised plan on Tuesday. Changes were made to the areas that raised much concern. Below are those changes.

• Elimination of the A-F school summative ratings on report cards.
• Elimination of the ratings bell curve.
• Changing the “n” student group size from 10 students to 20 students.
• Changing the “college ready” criteria for ACT scores from a score of 22 on Math and 19 on English to a composite score of 20.
• Measuring school academic growth using a value-added system; however, the use of teacher and student roster verification will be at the discretion of local school districts, as well as proposed language guaranteeing privacy for teachers.
• Eliminating “chronic absenteeism” as a non-academic indicator of school performance.
• Reporting percentage of kindergarteners, first graders and second graders who score ready on the reading assessment, phased in over the next three years.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Joint House and Senate Committee

The joint Senate and House committee studying how to address the fiscal crisis in the state pension system began putting together its recommendations. The committee has been meeting throughout the interim, hearing from pension fund experts and staff. The committee approved to propose several actions in the form of legislation to address more than $20 billion in unfunded obligations. The actions include the following:

• Setting employee retirement pay contributions at 9% (now at 8.6%).
• Authorizing the ability to increase contributions paid by employers at a higher percentage rate than what is paid by employees (currently, employers pay 11.56% of an employee’s salary)
• Preserving the annual 1% cost-of-living increase (capped at $500) for retirees.
• Reducing the assumed annual rate of return on investments from 7.5% to 7% and beginning in 2021, allowing the Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA) to change the rate of return unless rejected by the General Assembly.

 

State Newspaper All Midlands Football Team

Congratulations to the following Kershaw County football players who have been named to the State newspaper All-Midlands Team:

Jo Jo Watson – Camden – First Team WR

Adam Rowson – Lugoff-Elgin – First Team LB

Cedrick Cunningham – North Central – First Team ATH

Devin Beckley – Camden – Second Team QB

Elliott Campbell – Lugoff-Elgin – Second Team OL

Rahmel Burton – Lugoff-Elgin – Honorable Mention RB

Jericho Murphy – Camden – Honorable Mention RB

Avery Barnes – Camden – Honorable Mention REC