Learn about the new education laws taking effect in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Nearly a dozen new laws now in effect across South Carolina will impact public schools all across the state.
Education policy – to improve transparency, keep teachers in the classroom and protect your kids – earned a major focus of the General Assembly this year.
Gov. Henry McMaster says one highlight of lawmakers’ work this year is another raise to teachers’ starting pay.
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It’ll get South Carolina within striking distance of the governor’s goal of a $50,000 minimum by next year.
But it’s not the only action by lawmakers that will impact students and schools across the state.
“I think it’s reflective of the focus and priority both the legislature and the governor have been putting on K-12 education in recent years,” said Patrick Kelly of the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
Teachers say the biggest win is the age of the Educator Assistance Act, which will reduce burdensome paperwork requirements and reform teachers’ contract process.
“It’s going to improve their working conditions, it demonstrates respect for the profession, and I think it’s going to have a really profound impact on teacher morale, which is going to bleed into recruitment and retention efforts across our state,” Kelly said.
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Sherry East of the South Carolina Education Association had this to say:
“I think people finally got it, like what we’ve been saying for years — ‘This is not fair, we need somebody to take a look at all this.’”
Another new law will allow people with prior work experience in other fields to be eligible for higher pay right away if they pursue a second career as a teacher.
“Whether that’s working in a science lab if you’re a chemistry teacher, or whether that’s serving as an instructional assistant who later becomes a kindergarten teacher,” Kelly said.
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More changes will create a pilot program for schools to hire noncertified teachers if they’re dealing with vacancies, require that local school board meetings be livestreamed online and permit school districts to hire armed, private security.
The most controversial of the new education laws is the one that reinstates the school voucher program – designed to give certain families public money to send their kids to private schools.
The state Supreme Court struck down a similar iteration of this spending last summer.
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“We still think what they’ve done is unconstitutional, even with adding the trustee or adding the lottery — however they dressed it up, it’s still taking public funds for private education, so we still have a problem with that,” East said.
The South Carolina Education Association was one of the plaintiffs in last year’s lawsuit that ultimately resulted in that Supreme Court ruling on the previous voucher plan.
The South Carolina Education Association says it’s currently exploring all options when it comes to any type of legal action concerning this new version of it.
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