Part of my motivation for starting this blog was to help keep the homeschool community informed about various issues that affect us. I think it’s important to be aware of current legislation and elections so we can vote wisely. This is my perspective for the upcoming election about the SC State Superintendent Candidates 2022.
As a homeschool advocate, I am always interested in protecting our right to DIY our own educational program. But, I also have a vested interest in public education since my husband is a public school teacher. I’ve devoted a lot of my attention to this year’s election, particularly the superintendent candidates.
So, let’s wade into the discussion together. This is my opinion and my perspective. It’s fine if we disagree, but let’s do so respectfully.
Something’s Broken in Public Education
In addition to my work on this blog, I’m also the director of a homeschool association. I deal with parents all the time whose students are getting squeezed out of the school system–many who would never have considered homeschooling before. But they are now, due to over testing and safety issues, because they need mental health and special needs accommodations. So I get a lot of the parents’ perspective of what is broken in education.
I was a public school teacher who was squeezed out of the system decades ago. My husband and daughter are both public school teachers now and I see the struggles they have been dealing with through the pandemic. They’re both still hanging in there, but I see so many great teachers giving up too. I know that if teachers were empowered with proper resources and support staff, less testing requirements, and smaller class sizes–that it would serve students so much better. And had those issues been addressed decades ago, I might still be in public education.
I think we can all agree that something’s broken in public education. I think that parents and teachers actually have a lot more in common than we realize–including the goal here. What’s in the best interest of the children?
The spark of curiosity cannot be measured by a standardized test.
Education is Not a Partisan Issue
I have never understood why education is so politically charged and divisive. For many years, SC Connection has promoted National School Choice week. I love it because it’s a non-partisan initiative to celebrate all the options: Public, Private and Homeschool education. It’s a chance to celebrate the things that are working in education–since we tend to only ever focus on what’s not working.
For whatever reason, we tend to take “sides” about school choice. I get the impression that alignment with a certain party means supporting school choice (and homeschooling) better than another party. And alignment with the other party is actually anti-homeschooling simply because it emphasizes public school improvement policies. However, this sort of partisan identification isn’t accurate nor beneficial.
I have seen many homeschool “supporters” propose legislation (like tax breaks) that many homeschoolers actually don’t want. Just because they’re school choice advocates, doesn’t mean they understand the real issues for homeschoolers. Some of the solutions our allies propose have unintended consequences that we would have to deal with.
Let’s also consider that running under a certain party–doesn’t necessarily mean what we think it should. I remember when Molly Spearman (our current Superintendent) made some public statements against homeschooling when she was campaigning the first time that set off some of our alarms. After she met with a group of our association directors–she backed off of her adversarial position to a neutral one.
Even though she ran on the Republican ticket, she never was a school choice advocate. She said the primary focus of the Superintendent is about public education, so it made sense that homeschooling probably wouldn’t ever be on her radar. Several Third Option Association directors met with Molly again in 2017 to address some of the ongoing issues between Public schools and Homeschools. But, nothing was ever really resolved. She basically stuck with her campaign promise to leave homeschooling alone.
My point is that if we approach this race with partisan preferences, we’re missing the nuances of an extremely complicated issue. So, let’s take a closer look at the South Carolina Superintendent Candidates 2022.
Read more about the Profile of a SC Graduate. Goals for our student’s education are more than just knowledge-based tests.
SC State Superintendent Candidates
Ellen Weaver (Republican). Ellen is an outspoken advocate for school choice and promotes legislation for Education Savings Accounts. She is the president of Palmetto Promise Institute and serves on the Education Oversight Committee. I’ve been personally acquainted with Ellen for at least five years, when I first blogged about ESAs. She always gave me the impression that her position about education was non-partisan although I could tell that the connections she had were exclusively Republican. So it doesn’t surprise me that she’d run under this party affiliation.
The job description for this position is stated in the code of law. The very first qualification to apply for this job is a master’s degree and substantive experience in the field. But, Ellen did not have a master’s degree at first. This has been a huge concern–especially for teachers–that she lacked the basic educational degree necessary to apply for this job.
So, she’s recently announced that she has completed her master’s in Educational Leadership now–in just 6 months. This has also been a huge concern because this is an extremely accelerated pace for a program with 33 graduate level credit hours that normally takes 2 years. My husband did his master’s in Educational Leadership in 18 months, and that was an extremely intense workload.
She should have been able to explain the degree program–and provided regular updates about her progress. Ask anyone in college about their classes and their status, and they can tell you. Yet, Ellen did not offer any updates or explanations. At the very least, she’s being disingenuous when she’s promising transparency but refuses to answer any of the questions about her basic educational qualifications.
You and I might debate whether this qualification is necessary or not. Nevertheless, it is a qualification that is required by law. Even our homeschool student transcripts get scrutinized whenever they try to transfer into a public high school. I guarantee Ellen needs to provide more verification about her educational qualifications as the executive officer over the entire school system. She’s undermining the trust of the professional educators who she would be leading.
The job description then also requires “substantive experience in the field of public education”. It includes experience in “other policy making body” if the candidate/applicant doesn’t necessarily have classroom or administrative experience. We might speculate about which background experiences make a qualified candidate for the office.
I believe that a school choice advocate could have great input for building and improving education. With her work on ESAs and her position on the Education Oversight Committee, Ellen already understands policies and funding of public education. She could have convinced us how this experience and her political connections make her a great candidate even though she’s never been a teacher. She also could have done some substitute teaching to get firsthand practical experience inside the classroom.
Instead, Ellen has leaned on extreme partisan rhetoric and resorted to criticizing her opponents. In the primary, I thought that Kathy Maness was a better candidate for the republican ticket and I have personal connections to her as well. If Kathy had won the primary, this would be an entirely different conversation. Now, Ellen is still leaning on partisan rhetoric to smear her main opponent.
Since the primary, Ellen has rolled out some of her strategy and has focused more on crafting catchy sound bites. Her website lays out the key points of her platform: The STP (for Students, Teachers, & Parents). It’s good old-fashioned common sense that will revolutionize education by prioritizing students, supporting teachers, and empowering parents. Sounds good right?
But, in interviews she blames teachers for low student performance on test scores and suggests that an army of volunteers will make this bold plan possible. I don’t see authenticity about her experience or tangible results she can demonstrate.
I started off with some initial concerns that Ellen may not be the ally we presume. I have expressed several concerns to her that the ESA opportunities she promotes will have unintended consequences for the homeschool community and the individual participants. Ellen’s responses lacked the ability to discuss the nuances of practical implementation–even for a cause that we both supported. I have significant concerns now about her ability to address the really difficult issues going on in public education–and the unintended consequences of practical implementation.
I wholeheartedly support school choice–including a strong public school option. I just don’t think Ellen is the right candidate for this job.
This election is quite literally a fork in the road that will determine the future success of our students.
Lisa Ellis (Democrat/Alliance). Lisa is a high school teacher with two masters degrees and over 20 years of experience. She’s an outspoken advocate for public education who founded a grassroots non-profit organization to advocate for teachers and students. The primary goal of SC for Ed is to place quality teachers in every classroom in SC.
I do not have any personal connections to Lisa or SC for Ed, except that I know lots of teachers who attended the 2019 Red for Ed rally at the statehouse. So, I’ve been following her campaign to learn as much as I can about her platform and policies.
She will be on the ballot as a fusion candidate, named as the Democrat and Alliance candidate. If there’s no way you would consider voting for a Democrat, consider her as an Alliance candidate. While some might try to paint her as a “far left liberal”, she’s actually not running on partisan rhetoric. She’s talking about the issues going on in public schools and initiating conversations about it.
One of the primary duties in the job description is to “Keep the public informed as to the problems and needs of the public schools by constant contact with all school administrators and teachers, by personal appearances at public gatherings.” She’s already doing this with her Lisa Listens Tour, visiting nearly every county while still teaching full time. Many of her appearances are available for replay too, so you can still “meet her” and hear her heart.
Her website lays out the key points of her platform: A High Quality Education for All. She believes in collaboration between teachers, parents and students. Of course, her priority is public education: Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers and improving learning environment for students. On her social media page, she has outlined more ways for parents to get involved in the educational decisions. Student success starts with listening to the experts about how to improve educational outcomes.
Her tagline is: Inspire. Improve. Innovate. She’s not vilifying or blaming anyone for what’s broken in education. Her message offers hope for those who have been overworked and undervalued. Primarily teachers, but also parents and students. It’s about mutual trust and respect.
However, she does not support any funding for school choice initiatives. Especially when public schools have not been fully funded since 2008. I understand her concern about Education Scholarships taking money away from public schools. Many homeschoolers resist the idea of public funding as well. But, I wondered what she thought about school choice options that are not getting public funding, specifically the parents right to choose homeschooling.
Lisa’s campaign manager responded with this clarification, “Lisa absolutely supports homeschooling. There are lots of reasons this is the best option for some families. She also supports the use of public school spaces to support this schooling (ie kids coming in to take the pacer test for gym).”
I indicated that we are currently having some difficulties getting access to AP and PSAT tests, and a loophole in the equal access law being used to exclude homeschoolers too. Now, I have an invitation to follow up on these issues (and more) if/when Lisa is elected.
I started off with some hesitation and concerns that Lisa might not value homeschooling or at least take a neutral position about it. I found that she wants to get beyond the partisan rhetoric that has pitted parents against teachers. She’s willing to have hard conversations with parents in order for us to realize that we are more alike than we are different.
I believe her. I think she’s the right candidate for this job.
NOTE: There’s another candidate running for the Green Party, Patricia Mickel. Unfortunately, her website and social media is somewhat limited information for me to make an informed decision about her qualifications and goals. I did also reach out to her about her position on school choice/homeschooling, but got no response.
I know this article has been longer than I usually write. But, there’s even more that I could say that I have left off. I hope this inspires you to consider the qualifications, priorities and strategies of these superintendent candidates. Also be aware of the school board candidates who are leaning on the sound bites of partisan rhetoric because school board positions are supposed to be non-partisan.
Even though you might not intend to utilize public schools, we still want to support the best opportunities for our friends and neighbors. You never know when you might decide to put your child back in school, like I did.
Push back the divisiveness of partisan rhetoric, because we’re more alike than we are different. Education is more than just sticking to a script and getting back to “normal”. There’s something magical about the connection that we have to great teachers. We need them to stay in public education–it’s what’s in the best interest of the children.
Read more about Education Reformers
More about Education Reform:
Shaping Education Policy: Power and Process
An Education Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How Radical Changes Can Spark Student Excitement and SuccessImplementing Deeper Learning and 21st Century Education Reforms: Building an Education Renaissance After a Global PandemicThe Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America’s broken education system–and how to fix itThe Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation (Jossey Bass Education Series)Measuring What We Do in Schools: How to Know If What We Are Doing Is Making a DifferenceDo Schools Kill Creativity?Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us
School Choice Rally for Education in South Carolina
Tax Credits for Homeschoolers in SC
Learn Nothing Day–Try It Today!
The REAL Problem with Socialization
About Kim Andrysczyk
