In yet another move unlikely to win friends within the S.C. General Assembly, the University of South Carolina – currently in the midst of multiple meltdowns on its campus – praised a recent union-style teacher protest on the grounds of the S.C. State House.
According to a post on the school’s website, the May 1 rally – which caused 123,664 students to miss class – “showed that teachers have been pushed to their limits and are willing to take their fight over working conditions to state lawmakers.”
“The rally was significant historically because of the number of teachers and educators who showed up to take a stand,” said Jon Hale, a college of education professor. “I think it showed that a lot of teachers want change. But it also demonstrated how teachers are willing to break the silence, willing to step up and use their ‘teacher voices’ to make changes.”
Heady language …
“Historically teachers are encouraged to stay out of politics,” Hale added. “But now they’ve been pushed too far. The teachers walking out are Democrats, Republicans, Independents – it’s across the political spectrum.”
Wait … pushed too far?
As we noted in our coverage of this classroom walkout, state lawmakers are currently advancing a $30 billion-plus state budget that spends a whopping $14,227 per student in the coming fiscal year (2019-2020) on the nation’s worst government-run school system. That figure represents a 5.7 percent increase over the current fiscal year’s spending levels.
This sum – which does not include revenue from local bond issues (adding another $2,000-$3,000 per student, per year) – included pay raises of anywhere from 4 percent to 9 percent for government-run school teachers.
Apparently that was not enough to placate the socialist mob …
(Click to view)
(Via: City of Columbia)
Back in February this news outlet published data obtained from the S.C. State Board of Education showing that school districts ended the fiscal year 2017-2018 last June with a whopping $1.34 billion in unrestricted cash reserves – up from $944.2 million at the end of fiscal year 2015-2016.
That’s an astounding $400 million (or 42.3 percent) increase – in the span of just two budget cycles.
Has (will) any of that money fix South Carolina’s government-run schools? Of course not. The Palmetto State has been throwing more money at this system for decades … with the only outcome being a higher price for sustained failure.
At long last, lawmakers are finally becoming him to the scam …
“We didn’t hear a thing about students, nor did we hear a thing about outcomes,” one state lawmaker told us. “We heard a lot about ‘I’m not paid enough,’ at which point they marched around the State House like it was the walls of Jericho and then went out for drinks.”
Speaking of price, Hale is paid $75,500 annually (not counting bonuses or benefits) to research “the history of activism by educators.”
Sound market-based to you?
Meanwhile, former mainstream media “reporter” Page Ivey is paid $58,228 annually (again, not counting bonuses or benefits) to tout this so-called “research” from her post inside USC’s communist propaganda … err, communications office.
Sheesh …
“My big takeaway is that teachers are willing to take a stand, that they’re willing to be change agents,” Hale continued in his effusive praise of the rally. “It was inspiring.”
Inspiring?
No. “Inspiring” would be South Carolina leaders at long last empowering parents with an array of new homegrown education options – creating the market pressures necessary to turn around the state’s flagging government-run system.
That would be inspiring.
[su_dominion_video_scb]“Pouring billions of dollars in new money into the same failed bureaucracies (and approaches) year after year after year is not change … it is simply forcing taxpayers to pay more for what we know from decades of experience isn’t working,” we wrote earlier this year.
Unfortunately, South Carolina’s GOP leaders remain unswervingly committed to propping up this demonstrably failed system – even as they get slammed by the radical left, which demands still more money.
As for USC, we are shocked the school – which is loaded to the brim with liberal politicians – felt compelled to weigh in on the K-12 debacle given the ongoing “four-alarm dumpster fire” currently consuming the campus.
Beset by soaring tuition increases, skyrocketing debt, rabid political correctness, out-of-control spending on “economic development” scams, backsliding athletics, growing student safety concerns, academic integrity issues, research integrity issues and a host of other problems, the school is currently struggling to identify a president acceptable to its own socialist mob.
How is that effort coming? Ummmm …
To borrow its own slogan, there are truly “no limits” to USC’s current state of dumbassery.
This news outlet has argued for years that higher education is not a core function of government – and that the S.C. General Assembly should set state-supported colleges and universities free to pursue their destinies in the private sector.
Hopefully USC’s latest embrace of far left ideology will convince more lawmakers that the time to follow our advice has come.
Whatever you think of the current debate over teacher pay, it is certainly not the job of government entities to play the role of cheerleading propagandists …
-FITSNews
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own letter to the editor (or guest column) via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
(VIA: GETTY IMAGES)