“Schools should be cathedrals,” Sam Seaborn once said.
Well many if not most of them are – even in a dirt poor state like South Carolina. That’s especially true in Spartanburg County, S.C., where bureaucratic needs have consistently outweighed the needs of children in the classroom – and schools stand as monuments to taxpayer-funded excess.
Has all this money (and concrete) improved academic achievement? Of course not. But then again it’s been spent on all sorts of non-academic nonsense … like “Best Singer in the District” competitions. Oh, and putting greens at private clubs (no really … that happened).
Anyway …
Now one of the county’s seven school districts (that’s right … this county has seven different local education bureaucracies) is pushing for the construction of a new $128 million high school. Oh, and a $57 million renovation project for an existing high school.
They’re pushing for these costly new projects despite the fact that the school in question – Spartanburg High – has been experiencing declining enrollment for years. And despite the fact that the proposed school (which would take 145 acres off of the local tax rolls) is less than three miles away from a high school in a neighboring district.
Nonetheless local educrats say they need a “21st Century” campus – and have vowed to present voters with a referendum plan next spring.
What happens next?
This referendum (a.k.a. tax hike) will no doubt be championed by local educrats – using taxpayer resources – as well as campaign organizations subsidized by the special interests that stand to profit off of the new school’s construction. And of course the liberal local media will lend its microphone – editorially and in its reporting – in support of the expenditures.
Yeah. We’ve been to this puppet show before … and seen the strings.
Here’s the thing, though: It doesn’t work.
Children in South Carolina don’t need gleaming, expensive new buildings or more money for government programs or bureaucratic “accountability.”
We’ve tried all that before. And again, it doesn’t work.
What do they need? Choices … and the market pressures that come with them.
In fact even the state’s uber-liberal Supreme Court acknowledged in its controversial “minimally adequate” ruling last fall that more government spending “fails to provide students with the opportunity to obtain a minimally adequate education,” and that in the Palmetto State “the evidence demonstrates that there is a clear disconnect between spending and results.”
Indeed.
Building more taxpayer-funded “cathedrals” isn’t the answer. It’s never been the answer.
The answer is more academic freedom.
58 comments
Thank you Alliance for School Choice, FreedomWorks, the Olberndorfs, the Waltons, the DeVos, The Koch brothers, American Federation for Children. Together the can cut you some good sized checks, right Wil?
Checks?The two national unions—the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association—together have some 4.7 million members, who pay hundreds of millions of dollars in national, state, and local dues, much of which is funneled to political causes. Teachers unions consistently rank among the top spenders on politics.
Why state controlled schools have failed!
State schools fail because they depend on the local tax base for funding and legislatures that don’t fund them adequately. Then they point the finger at educrats and unions to blame with one hand while extending the other hand to take donations from organizations that oppose public schools cause they stand to profit from private ones.
And, you’re not Flip. Or Flip is someone playing the roll of troll to get clicks for Wil.
“Teachers in South Carolina are not permitted to bargain with their
employers for higher pay or better working conditions. They also are
prohibited to strike.”
http://www.takepart.com/photos/5-strongest-and-5-weakest-teacher-unions-country/49-south-carolina-one-5-weakest
Administrators and teachers are payed well.Great benefits.Stop whining! Kangaroo and Dodge’s is hiring!
You personally attack me because you CAN”T handle the facts.As a former administrator/teacher I much more informed on this subject that a dumb ass liberal that believes an education is learning to put a banana on a condom or where to get birt control pills.
I ‘am’…’birth’ control
You lie
Flip/GT is a certifiable nut. He makes crap up all the time. He talks to himself, and he refers to himself in the third person. He does not have a clue what he is talking about.
How much influence do those two unions have in SC? Come on, tell us.
ALL accreditation for teachers at state/private universities is designed and mandated by the NEA and AFT.
These teacher unions set the curriculum for brainwashing new teachers in state controlled schools and then they proceed to brainwash the children with liberal dogma and politically correct bull shit-instead of teaching critical thinking skills.
“ALL accreditation for teachers at state/private universities is designed and mandated by the NEA and AFT.”
Would you prefer to plead a Joe Wilson on this one or just plain ignorance?
Thankfully SC is a right-to-work state, so those teachers don’t have to pay dues if they don’t want to right? But wait, SC is one of the worst states in education. That can’t be right!
Or, you could be wrong. I think I’ll go with that.
May be a ‘right to work’ state however the teachers have still been brainwashed by the failed curriculum set forward in the university teaching programs BY the teacher unions.
I bet they could. I guess I’m not smart enough to go ask them, huh?
Will, can find out who is hacking my discus account and posting under it ?
Until the educational system teaches children to think, rather than memorize data for the next test, there is little hope for improvement. If school is seen as a boring chore, children will seek less beneficial outlets for their curiosity.
The Montessori preschool I helped found 45 years ago in a church basement now runs thru middle school on a 13-acre campus. Children in the first classes were valedictorians in five local high schools one year. One Rhodes Scholar so far.
Impressive! Great work!
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All Liberalism does is teach the memorizing of your dogma. No matter how much you’ve proven to be a failure…
If we EVER get Liberals out of education, and teach kids to think for themselves, as I teach mine, another Democrat will NEVER be elected.
Face it, moron. South Carolina ranks dead last on nearly every indicator of social and economic performance because of its brain-dead, right-wing Fox News population. The only thing you teach your kids, I suspect, is to embrace an imaginary friend to get them through the day. The majority of conservatives memorize dogma as a way of life.
Yeah – not so much. When you look at “county by county / school district by school district” results you get a very different picture. http://www.thestate.com/news/local/education/article13894787.html
You also need to consider when comparing state data that South Carolina has a very high percentage of students who take the SAT/ACT. The national average is about 46%, South Carolina’s average is about 68%. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/why-the-midwest-rules-on-the-sat/
I have no idea what you are attempting to argue there.
Whileyour info has zero to do with the previos comment yourevtrying to refute, it does make a point since those underperforming SC counties aren’t really part of South Carolina so why and how and why.
Indeed!
The State Superintendent of Education here in SC is a Republican, as was her predecessor, and his predecessor too. In fact, the state’s education system has been led by a conservative for the last thirteen years. In SC, the liberals don’t control policy, conservatives do. Stop the knee jerk bitching and start paying attention. Dummy.
The Montessori school should be mandatory for all children.
How long have you been hating yourself?
And let the 30% of District 7 that actually pays school taxes prepare for the assault.
There is only only one thing that will improve education; involved parents with high expectations. High expectations from educators is no substitute.
Our bureaucratic; top down; anti parental choice system does everything in its power to say that Professional Educators are what matter and unfortunately too many parents have bought that garbage.
The Educators do this on purpose to raise their professional status and politicians do it as a way of leveling children of involved parents down to the level of disadvantaged children. Leveling purformance is a more important policy objective than raising it. But these policies have been a dismal failure. The income and racial disparity in educational outcomes stubbornly remains.
“Leveling purformance is a more important policy objective than raising it.”
Really? Is that like “Income redistribution is a more important policy objective than raising income for ALL?”
You are a liberal.I had my suspicions.Explains some of Nikki’s latest capers and statements. :)
I was being critical of the politicians leveling objective.
Clearly he didn’t actually read your post.
He read it but is too stupid to understand it.
My thought exactly.
GREAT point flip. Liberals live to pull the achievers, and the producers, down to their level of failure.
The Dumbasses have not figured out (as was evident during the Bush years) if you let the producers flourish, we can feed the lazy, hateful, bitter, racist, and incompetent, much easier and better.
Obama has tried to cripple EVERY American except for his elitist buddies, who gobble up money the people earn. That’s who- and where – they are.
Great point, GT. Bloggers who failed in their endeavors love to get on the comments section of successful blogs in order to try and pull them down to their level of failure.
Only a dumbass has not figured out (as evidenced by him deleting his disqus account) that you can’t leech off others success.
Touchee
You appear at a moments notice when ‘GT’ posts.What is your deal? Obsessed ,jealous or both?
Definitely jealous. I admire his success at perpetual menacing. Hard to do.
Wow…a rare of admission of who, and what you are. I appreciate your concession.
I love anal sex.
You call a website that has no local – or high-dollar display – advertising, and can only get soft-core porn click-bait ads, successful?
If you don’t think Sanford – et al- is not propping up this liberal-ass-kissing blog – to attack those he hates…you’re a pretty stupid motherfucker…oops, I was redundant.
That said: Your level of ignorance regarding digital marketing is so evident, someone would have to be as fucking stupid as you to consider any commentary from you, legitimate.
Gateway Pundit has the same display and it’s very successful, as well as up your alley.
So, Sanford pays FITS to write articles critical of him??? That’s pretty hysterical. Anything else up your ass that you want to pull out.
You’re comparing a national site to a Midlands-based (regional) site.
FITSNews may make a few hundred dollars a month(maximum) off click-throughs, but if you cannot sell display ads..and FITS cannot, you can NEVER make a living off digital media.
That said: FITS likely made a killing off of slimy-bastard liars like Ravenel and Ervin, but it has become evident that any candidate associated with FITSNews (see Nancy Mace) has the kiss of death, so I expect that will dry up, now.
Aside from that: Liberal media (see The State (McClathcy) is bleeding millions in red ink. Liberal readers are bitching, perv-based, cheap and stingy assholes…not a demographic any advertiser wants. And that is FITSNews followers.
LOL.
Thanks.I try and contribute something worth reading. I know I got em when mamatiger92 spends the whole day ‘upvoting’ those that attack us conservatives for Christ. :)
Yeah…you know you scored big when all they can do is level sophomoric attacks, or use childish antics to try to diminish your very SUBSTANTIAL and accurate definition of them, and their backward ideology.
Liberalism is a religion of smoke and mirrors, trying to stay one step ahead of the ignorant minions who empower them.
You should speak with the superintendent of that district…Russell Booker. 864-594-4405. Hilarious!
Before I waste a phone call, what’s so hilarious about talking to Booker?
Our governments spend like there is no tomorrow!
Only the district involved will be pushing for this and only the taxpayers in that district will pay for the new schools, if and when the voters approve doing so.
If you want to create a firestorm in Spartanburg, just suggest consolidating districts. It won’t be just the district offices that sequel either. It will be the grassroots, only louder. The prior efforts have gone nowhere because the folks there want LOCAL BOARDS, LOCAL CONTROL, and LOCAL ATHLETICS.
If they are willing to pay extra for that, that is their business. Other smaller counties and districts should be consolidated first. Several are tiny by comparison to any of the Spartanburg ones.
Yep, consolidation is the third rail for any politician in Spartanburg. The educrats have to keep their six figure incomes. Incidentally, I believe the highest paid superintendent in the county, District 4, with approximately 2400 students is the highest paid. Nice work if you can get it…
Consoldiation is the single most important factor in improving the vast majority of our school districts. Greenville is one of the highest ranked districts and despite the many challenges there is only one “Greenville School District”. – Spartanburg by comparison has 7 and all but one are dismal failure.
It’s a delicious irony that every new school built is a monument to stupidity.
Mixed grade level education in single room school houses 70 years ago put out a better product.
They want to build monuments to themselves…all on your dime, of course.
Bullshit, give them all iPads and they’ll be a class of doctors, engineers, and fucking lawyers. Most will finish school early.
A few comments.
SHS is in competition with Spartanburg Day school and Dorman for students. Both have newer or renovated campuses. District 7 has a declining enrollment and is more and more becoming an intercity school district. District 3 is rural. Plans have been made in the past to try to merge with District 3, but have been stopped. Look for a push for the two districts to merge, or at least an attempt for the districts to merge.
The land in question was going to be a planned community, but when the bubble burst in 2008, that went out the window. Trust me, the movers in Spartanburg have already worked this out so it’s a done deal.