STATE REP. SAYS SUNSET LEGISLATION WOULD SAVE SC AT LEAST $2 MILLION ANNUALLY

The independent government organization tasked with overseeing public education standards in South Carolina would be disbanded under legislation created by State Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-Bamberg).

Sellers said Tuesday that he planned to introduce a bill next week, when pre-filing for the 2010 legislative session officially opens, to “sunset” the State Education Oversight Committee (EOC).

The responsibilities of the EOC, Sellers said, would be “folded in” to the State Department of Education — something he said would save the state at least $2 million annually.

“It has come to a point where that agency has run its course,” Sellers said. “I think [the EOC] stifles progress in the classroom, I think it contributes to teaching towards a test and not teaching the actual student, and I truly think it’s a waste of money because it is duplicative.”

Sellers said the legislation mandates that all money saved by dissolving the EOC be spent on instructional supplies and not on administrative overhead and other “fluff.”

“Teachers get $275 a year for classroom supplies,” Sellers said. “You can’t grocery shop for two weeks on $275.”

There would not be enough money saved by dissolving the EOC to improve teacher salaries, though, Sellers said.

The 18-member EOC was created in 1998 to advise officials on student performance, educational programs and public school funding in accordance with the South Carolina Education Accountability Act.

The group’s mission is to “affect the dramatic, results-based and continuous improvement of South Carolina’s educational system by creating a truly collaborative environment of parents, educators, community leaders and policymakers.”

But Sellers said the EOC is no longer living up to that mission. The EOC has set a number of goals for the year 2010, “some of which have been met, many of which have not,” Sellers said.

The second-term Democrat said he believed the bill would receive overwhelming bi-partisan support next session. “I think this is something I can find some friends on,” he said.

“This bill is about reform and limiting the bureaucracy that we have in our education system and ensuring that the millions of dollars spent by this agency actually make it to the classroom,” Sellers said, noting that the executive director of the EOC makes more than the State Superintendent of Education.

Sellers said feedback thus far from teachers, administrators and school board members has been positive.

Sellers said he was still making a few small revisions to the bill, but expected to be able to provide a copy of the bill to The Palmetto Scoop in the next few days.