FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday 6/24/09
Contact: Matt Moore
South Carolina Club for Growth

Even as the drama of the stimulus/bailout fight in South Carolina fades from newspaper and blog headlines, public education officials continue to insist their budgets are dangerously tight and student instruction is suffering.

On Tuesday, Lexington-Richland District 5 reported that despite an infusion of $4.5 million in stimulus dollars, it would need to fire 14 staffers and 62 teachers (The State 6/23). Last Thursday, Lexington District 2 announced similar layoffs for eight teachers and five staffers (The State 6/18). Other districts, such as Dorchester 2 and Charleston, are thinning their ranks through the process of attrition without replacement (Post and Courier 6/22).

Taxpayers might expect school officials to demonstrate fiscal leadership by keeping administrative and non-instructional spending down to a bare minimum. This would ensure the greatest sum of public money actually reaches teachers and students in the classroom.

Those taxpayers would be very disappointed.

This week the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) is putting on a massive, weeklong conference and meeting at the luxurious Kingston Plantation resort complex in Myrtle Beach. According to SCASA, rooms for the conference range from $134 to $369 per night. There are also conference registration fees for the “Leadership Institute,” the “Palmetto Priority Schools Conference” and other events throughout the week. There will be travel expenses for transportation to and from the conferences, per-diem, and extra perks like catered meals – all at taxpayer expense.

As a self-described “professional organization,” SCASA is funded through membership dues.  In the case of public school district superintendents and other high level administrators, these dues are funded directly by the district as a stipulation of the officials’ contracts.  Any expenses for the conference not included in these dues are, usually as a matter of course, reimbursed by the school districts.  SCASA as enjoys taxpayer subsidized health and dental benefits for its full time staff members. The organization similarly uses public funds to pay the salary of a full time lobbyist in Columbia.

“If public schools are cutting jobs and forcing teachers into unpaid furloughs, parents and taxpayers needs to know that superintendents and other administrators are leading by example and pinching pennies too,” explained Matt Moore, Executive Director of South Carolina Club for Growth, a taxpayer watchdog group. “This is yet another frustrating example of how many politicians and bureaucrats calling for higher taxes remain personally and professionally insulated from the painful economic pressures that teachers, parents, and businesses across the Palmetto State are now enduring.”