Haley Signs Charter School Bill, Touts Choice
Signing occurred at Greenville Charter Technical School.
In a ceremony at one of the state’s premier charter schools, Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law a bill that would give even more power to charter schools.
Haley was joined by State Superintendent Mick Zais at Greenville Technical Charter School in putting pen to paper on House bill 3241. A large contingent of students and faculty from GTCS were on hand to celebrate the announcement.
In signing the bill, Haley set her sights on even more change to the state’s ailing public school system. “We will no longer settle for what we think education has to be, we will lead in this country on what education should be – and that means options, innovation and creativity,” Haley said.
Zais added, “A one-size-fits-all model of education simply doesn’t work for many students. Public charter schools are laboratories of innovation where the interests of students come first.”
Anticipating potential criticism about fairness, Zais also noted that charter schools are held to a higher competitive standard than public schools in that failing charter schools can be closed, whereas public schools cannot.
Haley told reporters after the signing that she looks forward to bills coming to her desk that will offer parents even more choice.
Jonathan Edwards
2:44 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
This "choice" nonsense is disingenuous. The SC GOP has never cared about our public school system. Their arrogance always amazes me given how low our state ranks in almost every category imaginable.
www.jonathanpedwards.com
John H
10:42 pm on Saturday, June 16, 2012
To Jonathan Edwards: “…given how low our state ranks in almost every category imaginable.”
On behalf of the hardworking and dedicated educators and administrators in our South Carolina public schools, I’d like to submit some information I found that is a little more positive than the political unconstructive rhetoric that abounds.
This comes from a study done by Quality Counts as reported by Education Week. Both are funded by special interests but none that would present a bias toward South Carolina specifically. http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/products/qc2012-shr.html?intc=EW-QC12-LFTNAV
South Carolina’s grade in student academic and teacher standards are near the top. The numeric values place SC 8th in the nation for academic standards and 2nd in Teacher standards.
The statistic that everyone dials in on is the academic achievement scores. We do rank very low at 45th. However, each state sets their own standardize test values. South Carolina’s are very high. Adjusting for the high standards, the study would put SC well above its current position.
There are other statistics included but altogether this report gives the South Carolina Education a C+, well above the abyss that we are told to believe.
John H
10:43 pm on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Continued:
South Carolina is burdened with a rank of 47th among the states in SAT scores. However, more than 70 percent of all students in SC take the test. Illinois is the top ranked state but only 5 percent of the students take the SAT. Of the top 20 performing states, 18 have a participation rate below 10 percent.
Statistically, half of everything is always below the mean. Some studies show that South Carolina is not included in that subset. We have some very dedicated professionals who are accepting the challenge, working hard to improve the public system. The politicians need to support them better rather than project negativity to serve their own agenda.
stanley seigler
4:39 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
re: "In signing the bill, Haley set her sights on even more change to the state’s ailing public school system."
wonder how much (if any) research the gov, legislators (legs) do before pandering to T-GOP with nonsense bills...
some clips from PATCH thread: "School Choice Bill Barely Survives Senate Subcommittee"
[CLIP] study say charters perform no better than regular public schools...
http://www.artofteachingscience.org/2012/03/15/charter-schools-what-does-the-research-tell-us
[CLIP] "...we give Massachusetts, Missouri, and South Carolina an A for establishing rigorous expectations [world class stds]...a grade of A does not indicate students are performing at the highest level...the high grade indicates that the three states have set a high bar for students to reach...for example, only 25 percent of 8th graders in South Carolina were deemed proficient..." http://educationnext.org/few-states-set-worldclass-standards/
NOTE: those not deemed proficient in SC would be proficient in say TN.
thanks to JohnH for links.
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
2:04 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Options are great and much appreciated. Now can we work on getting prayer back into our classrooms please.
stanley seigler
2:57 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
@Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church: "...Now can we work on getting prayer back into our classrooms..."
why would one work on ignoring the US constitution...why would christians want to disregard the feelings of jews, muslims, atheists, whatever NOT christian...
didn't Jesus say: ...'when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' [matthew 6:6]
but to the secular and to repeat:
[CLIP] study say charters perform no better than regular public schools...
http://www.artofteachingscience.org/2012/03/15/charter-schools-what-does-the-research-tell-us
stanley seigler
2:57 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
@Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church: "...Now can we work on getting prayer back into our classrooms..."
why would one work on ignoring the US constitution...why would christians want to disregard the feelings of jews, muslims, atheists, whatever NOT christian...
didn't Jesus say: ...'when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' [matthew 6:6]
but to the secular and to repeat:
[CLIP] study say charters perform no better than regular public schools...
http://www.artofteachingscience.org/2012/03/15/charter-schools-what-does-the-research-tell-us
Mimi
3:15 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Hey Grace your church already is tax exempt what is your problem that you think anyone is concerned about your radical religous agenda in our classroom??? Shall we write a pray for every religeon or are you dellusional enough to think your interpertation of the bible is the correct one??? If you want to pray there is plenty of space and plenty of time to do it at YOUR choice of RELIGOUS CHURCH. So get out of our lives and we will pray when and where we chose so take your mushroom tea and drink it at your Taliban meeting and stop trying to tell the rest of us what we need.
Mimi
3:20 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Another Nimrata sell out to the investors foaming at the mouth to see how much they can exploit from our children in the name of education. How much more Nimrata can demand in taxes and fees to pay for the CEO's and the upkeep of a entity that doesn't even pay taxes. Actually there is no evidence whatsoever that if you pay more for something the out come will be any better. This is just the racist agenda to seperate those that are poor and those that are rich. It is more about snobs believing their children should socialize with their own financial class. More fear from the Republican party. Anyone want to buy a house??? I can't wait to get the heck out of this backwards modernday slavery state. PATHETIC How do you people keep electing this lunatics?????