Ellen Weaver: Palmetto Policy Forum Testimony to House Education and Public Works Committee Wednesday, January 21, 2015

OUR PHILOSOPHY
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today for a few minutes to give a thumbnail sketch of Palmetto Policy Forum: why we exist and ways that we hope to serve as a resource for this Committee.

I come here personally today not as an academic policy expert but as someone who loves our home state of South Carolina and believes passionately that the path of opportunity both for our people and our state starts with bold, big picture thinking about how we put together key puzzle pieces for South Carolina’s future.  We focus on the issues of energy, health care, tax & budget policy…and of course, righting the injustices of our education system, which is why I am here talking with you today.

Like many leaders in our state, we believe it's time to reboot and fundamentally rethink our system of education: how we fund it, how we measure outcomes and most importantly, how we truly elevate and support teachers…because a system never taught a child!

Our philosophy of public policy could fairly be categorized as conservative.  Now I know some of you reflexively roll your eyes at that and are about 2 seconds away from tuning me out.  But let me explain what I mean…

First, our solutions-oriented approach is rooted in a belief in the inherent dignity of ourselves and everyone around us.  We believe that human nature responds rationally to incentives – both positive and negative – and I dare say that anyone who doubts this has probably never been a parent!

Which means that for us, good intentions in public policy aren’t enough.  We have to look at what works and what doesn’t, create accountability measurements that measure the right thing – in the case of education, student success – and look around our state and beyond for best practices that are creating high student achievement.

Second, our default setting in education policy will always tend towards pushing dollars and decisions back to the classroom and family level.

These are the philosophies that we bring to all of our work:  a best-practice thinking that strives to apply new solutions to old problems – which we call policy entrepreneurship – and get beyond the predictable political back and forth to focus on what actually works.  We aim to be problem-solvers, not pot-stirrers.  And like Superintendent Spearman, we believe in a collaborative approach in so far as possible.

In that vein, over the last several months we have convened a group of like-minded education advocates, which we call the South Carolina Coalition for Education Opportunity.  Many of them are here today and they all share our passion for deep, sustainable, student-centered education transformation in this state.

OUR RESOURCES
As an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization, we exist to provide you and the citizens of South Carolina with well-research public policy information.  We do this in several different ways that I’ll mention briefly:

Events
Next week, the South Carolina Coalition for Education Opportunity will be joined by hundreds of parents, students and education professionals here at the Statehouse on Tuesday, January 27^th at 11:30 AM on the South Steps of the Statehouse for our My SC Education Rally to celebrate National School Choice Week.  We’ll be celebrating ALL forms of choice: public, private, virtual, homeschool, public charter, magnet and more.  I hope you’ll plan to join us and get your yellow scarf.  However, fair warning: don’t wear a black jacket – they shed!

Expertise
We bring the best minds to the table, both from South Carolina and beyond, like what we are currently doing in coordinate with the Department of Education to help make sure that the good policy you passed with Read to Succeed is implemented well…because implementation is where the rubber really meets the road.

So next week, on Thursday, January 29^th at Noon (or as soon thereafter as the House adjourns) in Blatt 305, our Coalition will be hosting a lunch ‘n’ learn event to considers the policy implication of the Abbeville decision.  Titled “Fund Students, Fix Systems,” we’re bringing together top state and national experts to discuss our current funding structure and look at cutting-edge funding and governance innovations happening around the country.  I hope you all received this Dear Colleague invitation last week, but I brought a few extras in case you didn’t see it and are interested in attending.

Publications
We also publish resource publications from full on policy papers like our comparison of education outcome in Florida and South Carolina, which helped inform the Read to Succeed legislation, our common sense paper on Common Core that helped provide a roadmap for to pushing back on potential federal control of our standards…and more.

We also publish must shorter publications called Fast Facts for quick consumption like this “10 Ways to Supercharge Education” paper that summarizes much of our longer research.

And last but not least, we are particularly proud of our award-winning Empower Opportunity – a resource catalog designed to inform parents in South Carolina about how to access ALL the options that are growing in South Carolina, thanks to the past work of this Committee.  In this publication, we highlight success stories from real South Carolina families who are using each of these options and show how school choice in all its many forms is delivering real results where it’s tried…and we hope to see this choices expand even further in the session before us.  All of these publications can be found at www.palmettopolicy.org.

In closing, having celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. day this week, I’m reminded of his famous quote about the “fierce urgency of NOW.”  Our kids in South Carolina can’t wait another 20 years for us to come together to address the education challenges in our states.  We’re excited to work with you this session and beyond to take them head on.

Thank you.

What’s Hot in the Hopper

The South Carolina General Assembly will officially convene for the 2015-2016 session tomorrow, but Statehouse staff have already been hard at work drafting legislation for the “pre-filing” period, which is now complete. While some pre-filed bills are dropped in the hopper purely for shock value and will never see the light of day, others are indicative of broad support and will be up to bat as early as next week. Here is a quick review of bills that fall into the categories that the Forum has identified as the key drivers of South Carolina’s future growth and competitiveness as a state.

On education, some legislators just want to spend more...and idea that is being repudiated even by the South Carolina Supreme Court, as we saw in the recent Abbeville decision. Others want the constitution to require a “high-quality” education rather than a “minimally adequate” one or to make the currently elected Superintendent of Education a Gubernatorial appointment. Then there are bills to establish a Board of Regents for higher education, operate K-12 schools year-round, raise teacher pay, extend bus transportation, expand wireless internet access, and delay implementation of new education standards.

But the Education bills we like best are: those that expand the school choice tax credit from those currently eligible (children with Exceptional Needs) to all children trapped in poverty. We also like the bill to make that same Exceptional Needs temporary budget proviso a part of permanent law.

What are other proposals we hope to see? Our Top Ten calls for incenting excellence in teaching, strengthening charters, providing more paths to certification as a teacher, and reforming education governance among other bold reforms. We would also like to begin a statewide conversation on the need for Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) like those in Arizona and Florida. Here is a new article from the journal National Affairs on this transformative policy proposal.

On taxes and fiscal issues, there are bills to protect the capital reserve fund, to enact a Fair or flat tax, to require audits of municipal governments, to eliminate corporate income taxes, to increase the homestead tax exemption, to raise the car sales tax cap, to stop additional fees, to go to a biennial budget, and to allow a wider range of investment for state employee pension plans.

The tax and fiscal issues we really like are those that promote fiscal fitness: an analysis of the state level of dependence on federal funding, more transparency in tax incentives for attracting businesses, reduction and elimination of the state income tax, an earned income tax credit for poor South Carolinians, and state spending limitations.

On energy, there is legislation to encourage development of offshore wind research and development. An “all of the above energy” policy is important and as our Offshore Opportunity report shows, oil and natural gas exploration would also be transformative for our economy, and should be encouraged.

On healthcare, we see attempts to nullify the ACA and some attempt at needed Certificate of Need (CON) reform, but few true state-based innovations to increase access and lower costs have been filed.  It’s also critical that legislators remain vigilant against any expansion of our broken Medicaid system, for the many reasons outlined in our research on the issue.

On labor and business, and a bill has been filed to prevent public officers or employees from organizing or striking.  One interesting note is that as our research shows unionized workers actually earn less in South Carolina than their non-unionized counterparts.

On transportation and infrastructure, there are a number of bills to raise the fuel tax, focus resources on repairing existing roads, send any newly found money only to the highway fund, and restructure the transportation (DOT) commission. Look for more on this from the Forum soon.

Please let us know your thoughts on these and any other public policy issues. We are here for you and look forward to keeping you updated on how these issues develop and could impact you and your family in 2015 and beyond.

An Immediate Legislative Response to the Court's Educaiton Decision

10 Things Lawmakers Need to Know About School Funding

Testimony of Dr. Oran P. Smith: First Steps to School Readiness Study Committee

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 1:00 PM

110 Blatt Building, Columbia, SC

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Good afternoon.

I am Oran Smith, and I come to you this afternoon in two capacities. I am President & CEO of Palmetto Family, a faith-based, public policy research organization founded in Spartanburg and based here in Columbia since 1994. I am also glad to be part of Palmetto Policy Forum, a new type of policy organization dedicated to expanding opportunity by building consensus around common sense solutions.

 

For those of you not familiar with PPF, you will surely know some of our board members, like Phil Hughes, Van Hipp, Barry Wynn, and an obscure banker by the name of Brenan. I serve as Senior Fellow at PPF. Our President and CEO is Ellen Weaver

By way of personal background, I received my undergraduate degree from Clemson and my Master of Public Administration and Doctorate from the University of South Carolina. I should also add that my parents, who are Furman Class of 1954, assure me that they voted for Dick Riley for Student Body President that year. I came to Columbia from Greenville with Carroll Campbell to serve in his office of economic development.

My brief thoughts today will be of a macro or broad perspective. I believe the principles I outline today enjoy strong, majority support with the public and certainly on the boards to which I report and will serve to frame parts of this discussion.

So, what are the “first principles” that I believe must underlie any sound recommendations for early childhood education in our state? Here are five assertions or principles I would like to leave with you:

First, the Education of Young Children is a Family Affair. We believe that the institution of family and its role must be protected. The primary educator of our youngest citizens is the family. Governmental policies should support and defer to the family unit, not by coming with an attitude of “we know better than parents”, undermine or replace the family as educators of pre-kindergarteners.

It has been a nearly ten years now, but I was struck by a very strongly worded op-ed on this matter that appeared in The State newspaper in 2006. The author was Reed Morton, the legendary kicker for the USC football team. I had never seen his views in print before or since. The title of the piece was “Hand Them Over to the State.” His argument was that at the current pace of early childhood education, in 2015 every infant would be taken directly from the hospital in which she was born to the local public school for “early intervention.”
An extreme example, let’s not go down that road. Let’s default to the parent as the primary educator for 0-3 when we can, and work with parents when we can’t.
The Meeting Street Academy in Charleston and Spartanburg founded by George Dean Johnson represents a marvelous example of how parents have become a part of early education, of how home and school can work together.
In all things, family should be encouraged. I realize this may be outside the scope of this committee, but one way to do that might be to help poor families thrive financially. For at least six years, John Rouff of SC Fair Share has been walking these halls attempting to generate interest in a state earned income tax credit. Could an EITC be devised that would help the working poor be better parents? Under certain conditions, now may be the time for an EITC along the lines of the federal version championed by Ronald Reagan.

Second, the Education of Young Children is in SC often a Faith Affair. The church and the church-sponsored school are extensions of the family. Government should protect the church as a private provider---a place where faith can be openly shared and celebrated, as in the family.

This brings me quickly to an adjacent third point, The Education of Young Children in SC Has Represented a Marvelous Experiment in Free Enterprise that We Should Encourage not “Stateize.” If we were referring to a military junta somewhere in South America taking over a private industry it would be called “nationalization.” I am not aware of a word to indicate takeover of an industry or ministry in the private sector by a state government, so I have coined “stateize.”

I urge you to in all cases seek to make private options work. After the family, the state should defer (or default) to private enterprise and the free market. Best practices should be used as models, and the highest level of accountability for public dollars should be non-negotiable, but free enterprise is the reason for South Carolina’s very existence. Free enterprise should be allowed to work in the sphere of the education of young children.

Private sector early childhood providers:
- Allow parents to retain more control over their children’s early years.  
- Specialize in early childhood only and do not blend toddlers with much older children.
- They also offer closer monitoring of transportation issues for small children.
- Can usually educate a child for less than the state, all while paying state and local taxes.
- Are allowed to teach from the Bible and offer spiritual instruction, which is vitally important during the early years of a child’s life. Government takeover equals secularization of care.
- Represent hundreds of families who have dedicated their lives to the education of young children. They are an extension of the family.
- Are just that, private. They are small businesses representing the spirit of free enterprise that built this nation.
- Are regulated effectively, unlike unlicensed home day care facilities.

For a preview of what might be on the horizon if we are not vigilant in this area, we need only to look towards Great Britain. Even with that country’s greater tolerance for government intervention, many there are concerned that government-dominated child care has gone too far.

In fact, the (2010) platform for Britain’s Conservative Party states that while they support care for pre-school aged children, they want that care to be “provided by a diverse range of providers – including the many childminders and private, voluntary and independent nurseries which are currently being squeezed out of the system.”

Rather than rolling First Steps into Fort Rutledge, an unwelcome environment for building public-private partnerships, low income families in South Carolina would be better-served if parents were given flexible spending accounts to use for educational and educational therapy-related services for students. Florida and Arizona offer some families accounts such as these and have found high levels of parental satisfaction.^[i] Florida’s preschool choice program includes specific academic goals and a provision to remove underperforming providers from participation in the program.  Rigorous analyses of programs around the country that offer scholarships for private programs show significant levels of student achievement.^[ii]

South Carolina’s goal should be to improve student outcomes and give families flexible, high-quality options to prepare their children to succeed—not simply to willy nilly enroll more young children in classroom settings at earlier ages.

Connected to Choice in Education is my fourth point, that the Education of Young Children Should Not Take a One Size Fits All Approach. Every child should not necessarily go to school at ages 0, 1, 2, or 3. A “universal” pre-school is hardly the logical response in a state that has since 1999 spent $436 million on early education programs, pushing more and more kids into pre-K while seeing 2 out of 3 state 4^th graders reading at “Basic” or “Below Basic” levels—levels that indicate students are preforming below the appropriate grade level.^[iii]

Research does not indicate that universal pre-k is the answer. We have significant work to do to insure the K-12 education system young children matriculate into is prepared to sustain any gains made amongst certain populations in early childhood. I’m afraid that as of now, we simply can’t say that’s the case.

A one size fits all Universal Money Bomb is not the answer. Justice Kittredge said as much in his dissent in Abbeville et. al. when he wrote that “…five of the eight districts in this litigation are in the top ten school districts in the state in terms of revenues received. Thus, Plaintiff Districts are among the highest funded districts in the state…”We urge you to continue on a path of targeting of funding, insuring that state dollars are sent where they will be used accountably and effectively to promote robust student achievement.

Fifth…and finally, and admittedly this has been touched on by earlier testimony…the Education of Young Children Should Not Be Held Hostage to Arcane, Even Byzantine Education Structure. In the Abbeville decision, Justice Toal writing for the majority said that “…it is striking that the parties to the instant litigation have focused narrowly on a struggle between education expenditures and education outcomes while ignoring the overarching dilemmas emanating from the organizational structure of public education.”[iv]

Palmetto Policy Forum has been on record since its inception about the drag on the system represented by multiple boards with overlapping and even competing responsibilities in education. We are particularly disturbed by a State Board of Education selected by odd-sized Judicial Circuits that rotate amongst the counties within the Circuit thus not democratically representing the families they are meant to serve.

But consider the First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees. It has been said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. The First Steps governance structure surely looked like this progeny. Stakeholders, particularly private providers and business representatives must be at the table. But 39 members was quite large. A reduction to 25 is a great improvement. But a sound option would be to look to the MA, OH and MD models for how to fine tune an agency with a Commission and a CEO.

So, in conclusion, our request of this study committee in its deliberations, can be summarized with four “R’s”: Respect for the Family & Private Providers, a close monitoring of the state’s Return on Investment no matter what the provider, a Ramping Up of Opportunity through more and earlier choices for parents, and a Restructuring of Education Governance.

Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you.

---

[i] Jonathan Butcher and Jason Bedrick, M.P.P., “Schooling Satisfaction: Arizona Parents’ Opinions on Using Education Savings Accounts,” The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, October 10, 2014, http://www.edchoice.org/Research/Reports/Schooling-Satisfaction--Arizona-Parents--Opinions-on-Using-Education-Savings-Accounts.aspx.

[ii] Greg Forster, “A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice,” 3^rd ed., April 2013, p. 3, http://www.edchoice.org/Research/Reports/A-Win-Win-Solution--The-Empirical-Evidence-on-School-Choice.aspx.

[iii] U.S. Department of Education, “The Nation’s Report Card: 2013 Mathematics and Reading,” http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2013/#/state-performance.

[iv] Abbeville County School District et al. v. The State of South Carolina, SC Supreme Court Opinion No. 27466, November 12, 2014.