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More state budget cuts could leave hundreds of teachers jobless
March 4, 2010
More state budget cuts could leave hundreds of teachers jobless
By Joe Kasko
COLUMBIA — Hundreds more teachers could lose their jobs and class sizes will increase if the state continues to cut the budget for schools, S.C. Superintendent of Education Dr. Jim Rex told lawmakers Wednesday.
Rex told a Senate Finance panel there are no good options left for reducing education costs.
A budget proposal in the House would cut funding for schools by an additional 6 percent, or $85 million.
That would return state spending on teacher salaries to 1995 levels, Rex said.
He likened proposals to cut education spending to a person trying to decide which limb to amputate.
“I did say that it was like they (lawmakers) were beginning to turn the state into an amputee state,” Rex said. “We’re going to have a public school system that’s going to have fewer teachers than it needs, fewer facilities than it needs (and) kids and parents are going to start to see the differences.”
Rex, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, encouraged senators to find ways to raise money rather than continuing to cut services.
He said raising the state’s 7 cents-per-pack cigarette tax to the national average would keep teachers from having to take additional furlough days.
“If you can’t furlough and cut down on the amount of compensation, you’re giving to the teaching staff you have, you’re going to have to decrease the size of the teaching staff,” Rex said.
If schools aren’t provided with better funding, he said, the state my also have to look at shortening the school year.
“That’s another terrible option,” Rex said. “That’s exactly what we shouldn’t be doing in South Carolina. We want to be competitive. We want are kids to have more instruction, not less.”
He said the damage done to education by the budget cuts could be irreparable.
“If a child misses out on educational opportunity for two or three years, you can’t go back and refill that pothole and that’s going to impact our state’s future. So we have got to address the need to fund public education adequately,” Rex said.
Lawmakers asked Rex to recommend areas that could be trimmed to save money, but he provided few answers.
“There are no good options left,” he said. “We’ll go look at the mandates again and see which of them would hurt the least, if we decreased them or asked the legislature to suspend them.”
