Competition: The Pathway to Better Public Schools

In recent days there has been a lot of national attention focused on South Carolina’s representative to the Miss Teen USA pageant. Her initial spontaneous response to a question - about a survey showing that many American young people can’t locate the United States on a world map - has been the subject of newspaper stories, editorials, and television programs.

Unfortunately, most of the discussion and ridicule of this young lady is misdirected, and certainly a young teen can be forgiven for a few seconds of stage fright in front of a huge auditorium and a national TV audience. What has been overlooked, and should concern us far more than her response, are the underlying contributing factors to the question that was put to her. I’m talking about the “dumbing down” of America, about cultural illiteracy, about declining test scores, soaring dropout rates, and most bitter of all, South Carolina’s bottom of the barrel ranking in a nation that itself ranks near the bottom of all industrialized nations in math and science achievement.

Nearly a quarter century ago a national, bipartisan panel was asked to examine the quality of education in the United States. Its report entitled “A Nation at Risk” stated “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” The report added, “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

In the intervening years since that sobering report was issued, little has changed despite massive increases in government spending on K-12 education. In that regard we learned the disappointing news this week that South Carolina’s SAT scores declined for a second consecutive year. In responding to the news, our State Superintendent of Education commented that “It may be that we’ve hit a point in education reform in the state and nation that we need to do more substantive change to keep up with the competition.”

Dr. Rex’s assessment that “we need to do… more to keep up with the competition” is accurate. Yet the problem may be that competition is being stifled because the system that now has the monopoly on K-12 education works tirelessly to prevent private and independent schools from being able to compete on a “level playing field” with public schools.

While our state education leaders have talked about several good ideas for improving schools – greater choice among schools, single gender classes and schools that take into account the different ways in which boys and girls learn, more rigorous course requirements, greater emphasis on basics, longer school days and longer school years, professional development of teachers – there is little real incentive for schools and districts to substantively change when there are no adverse consequences when they fail their students. In fact, many failing schools and districts argue for, and they often receive, even more money in response to repeated failure.

Our State Superintendent is right; we need “substantive change.” We can see that things like spending more, tinkering with the curricula, improving the facilities, these things have not substantively improved the quality of South Carolina’s public schools as many had predicted they would.

To set a goal, as some have suggested, that South Carolina will rank among the top half of all fifty states is itself far too modest a goal. We should do more than simply aspire to reach the mediocrity of other states. Instead we need to look at how the world’s highest performing nations educate their students and replicate their performance.

Every parent knows how quickly children grow up. We cannot continue to ask parents to sacrifice their children as we wait another 5, 10, or 25 years for schools to improve. Every year is critical in the life of a child, and no child should be sacrificed in the hope that more tinkering and more spending might finally make a difference.

South Carolina’s school system needs substantive change, and it needs it now. People who truly support our system of public education should insist on substantive change to make our system better. Competition works. Just as in sports, our schools will most likely perform better when they’re competitively challenged.

Have You No Decency?

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that “men are respectable only as they respect.” If that is to be the measure, The State newspaper has invited very little respect for an invasive story it ran last weekend about the tragic fire in Charleston resulting in the loss of nine firefighters.

By its own admission, the newspaper obtained the release of several hundred radio transmissions that were exchanged between the doomed firefighters and the dispatchers and fire chief. These transmissions, the agonizing last words uttered by men who realized they were about to die, are expressions of faith and love for wives and family. These transmissions are not news, and to publish them callously invades the privacy of grieving families left without husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. The general public has no need to know these last, desperate words, and reporting them in the pages of one of the state’s major newspapers only deepens the pain and loss for families that have already suffered far too much.

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect a newspaper owned by a company headquartered on the West Coast to exemplify our southern values of courtesy, consideration for one’s neighbors, and respect for bereaved families. But the newspaper crossed way over the line and descended to the depths of vulgar tabloid journalism in this case.

To add unthinkable insult to injury, the newspaper chose to run its story about the final words of nine brave firefighters next to an advertisement headed “RED HOT MATTRESS PRICES.” The quarter- page advertisement was vividly illustrated with deep red flaming tongues of fire. One is left to wonder whether this was some very disturbed copywriter’s idea, or whether the editing at the newspaper has become that shoddy.

The State newspaper has roots deep in the history of our community. Its founder is memorialized close to the State House grounds. There is no competing major newspaper in the Midlands between which readers can chose, but our people have a right, nevertheless, to expect more than this type of sensationalist tabloid trash from South Carolina’s largest newspaper.

The Constitutional guarantee of “freedom of press” should never relieve a major newspaper of its duty to conduct itself professionally and in good taste. The editors of The State owe an apology to the firefighters’ families and to all South Carolinians they have blatantly disrespected with this story. Have you no decency?

New Treasurer Can Help This State Act Boldly

Published Friday, August 10, 2007

By Richard Eckstrom

Last week, the state Legislature appointed Rep. Converse Chellis of Summerville to complete the term of our former state treasurer who recently resigned. At one time I was state treasurer, so I'm very familiar with the duties of that office.

Treasurer Chellis will assume an extremely competent, professional staff to handle the daily activities of his new office, important activities like investing public funds and servicing state debt. My advice would be for him to rely on his competent staff to handle many of these functions and to devote his own time to critical matters where the citizens of South Carolina are now grossly underserved.

I'm referring to work that needs to be done to fix the serious funding problems of the state retirement system. State officials have been willing to all but ignore these escalating problems for years. When I was elected state treasurer in 1994, I warned that the state retirement system was pitifully underfunded. In fact, at that time the retirement system was short-funded by 25 percent, amounting to a massive shortfall of over $3 billion. Since 1994, because of a series of awful management decisions, that shortfall has been allowed to balloon to about $10 billion! That's a disgrace.

Most elected officials have refused to reasonably address this financial calamity. Some are willing to pay lip service to it, but except for Gov. Mark Sanford, most have not had the political courage to work to eradicate this destructive financial cancer growing on our state.

In contrast, I hope that the new treasurer will have the political courage to work to address this mess. For too long, state leaders have ignored it, and by doing so they've forced us into an almost unmanageable predicament. Denying or refusing to address this difficulty won't make it go away. Doing that has only made it worse.

Frankly, by failing to act for as long as it has, the state may have forced itself into having to restructure the entire retirement plan. Doing so would require legislative action, but I hope that the new treasurer will encourage his hesitant former colleagues to act decisively without further delay.

Above all, as a new member of the Budget and Control Board, I hope that the new treasurer will refuse to commit a blunder routinely made by board members. Whether or not to grant annual COLAs (cost of living allowances) is a board decision. I ask the treasurer, as a fellow CPA, to not further weaken the retirement system by voting to grant additional benefit increases like COLAs until the retirement system's funding crisis is cured. The retirement system already is staggering under a crushing $10 billion load of promises that already have been made -- yet have never been paid for. The system must not be weakened any further.

There is something extremely cynical about promising benefit increases -- without funding those promised increases -- while fully aware that the retirement system already is unable to afford existing commitments. Regrettably, that has been done routinely in the past.

On a related matter, the state has promised public retirees $9 billion in future health insurance coverage and, once again, has not funded its promises. I hope that the new treasurer will encourage the Legislature to set up a fund immediately to begin paying down that $9 billion liability rather than let this situation deteriorate any further.

We must be realistic. The credit rating agencies are wondering how the state plans to pay for today's enormous unfunded retirement benefits. Elected officials have committed us to huge liabilities that are almost beyond comprehension. It is unlikely we will recover our AAA credit rating, which we lost a few years ago, until we honestly commit to a realistic workout plan for this dilemma.

If the Budget and Control Board and the Legislature fail to meet these obligations, South Carolina history would be justified in dealing very harshly with all elected state officials from our era. After all, many of them have created this gigantic mess for the taxpayers. If today's elected officials won't clean up after themselves, the good people of South Carolina would do well to find others who will.

Richard Eckstrom, a former certified public accountant from Greenville, is the comptroller general of South Carolina and one of the five members of the state Budget and Control Board. He served one term as state treasurer and was re-elected in 2006 as comptroller general.

An Open Letter to New State Treasurer

State of South Carolina

Office of Comptroller General

1200 Senate Street

305 Wade Hampton Office Building

Columbia, South Carolina 29201

August 1, 2007

Dear Mr. Treasurer:

I’m looking forward to your appointment. At one time I served in the office you’ll soon occupy, so I know precisely what you’ll be facing when you become the next State Treasurer.

You’ll assume a very competent, professional staff to handle the daily activities of the office, important activities like investing public funds and servicing state debt. My advice would be to lean on your competent staff to handle these functions and to devote your time to acute matters where the citizens of South Carolina are now grossly underserved.

I’m referring to work that needs to be done to fix the serious under funding of the State retirement system. State officials have essentially ignored this growing problem for many years. When I was elected State Treasurer in 1994, I warned that the State retirement system was acutely under funded. In fact, in 1994 the retirement system was short-funded by twenty-five percent, which was a massive shortfall of over $3 billion.

Since 1994, through a series of terrible management decisions the shortfall has ballooned to nearly $10 billion! That’s alarming.

Many state leaders are unwilling to confront this financial disaster. Some are willing merely to talk about it, but very few have shown the political courage to confront the core problem and eliminate it.

In contrast, I hope that you’ll come into office with the political courage to eliminate this destructive financial cancer that’s now growing on our State. For too long state leaders have ignored it and by doing so they’ve forced us into an almost unmanageable predicament. Denying or refusing to address this problem won’t make it go away. Doing that has only made it worse.

Frankly, by failing to act for as long as it did the State may have forced itself into having to restructure the entire retirement plan. That would be the Legislature’s ultimate decision, but I hope that you’ll encourage the Legislature to act decisively.

Above all, as a new member of the Budget and Control Board I hope that you’ll refuse to make a mistake commonly made by Board members. Whether or not to grant annual COLAs is a Board decision. I plead with you not to further weaken the retirement system by voting to grant additional benefit increases like COLAs until the retirement system’s funding problems are cured. The retirement system is already staggering under a crushing load of unfunded promises and it can ill-afford to be weakened further.

There is something cynical about promising benefit increases -- without funding those promised increases -- while fully aware that the retirement system already is drowning in a sea of red ink.

On a related matter, the State has promised public retirees $9 billion in health care benefits and, once again, has not funded those promises. I hope you’ll encourage the Legislature to establish a trust fund immediately to begin liquidating that $9 billion liability.

The credit rating agencies are wondering how the State plans to pay for its unfunded retirement benefits. The recovery of our AAA credit rating is unlikely until we commit to a workout plan. You and I have a duty to all South Carolinians to provide strong financial leadership on these enormous challenges.

Again, I look forward to your appointment and to working with you on these difficult challenges. If we fail to meet this test, South Carolina history books would be justified in dealing very harshly with the elected state officials from our era.


Sincerely,

Richard Eckstrom

S.C. Comptroller General