Help for SC teachers could die at the State House unless this happens

Teachers in South Carolina awaiting action by the S.C. Legislature that would give educators more flexibility in their contracts with public school districts may see a vote on changes this week as the legislative session nears its end.

The Educator Assistance Act passed the state House of Representatives a year ago by a unanimous vote, 111-0. But the legislation has not moved out of the Senate Education Committee this year, and without a vote on the floor, the bill will die when the current legislative session comes to an end on Thursday, May 9.

But the bill, which would allow public schoolteachers more room to get out of a year-long teaching contract without having their certification — and ability to teach in the classroom — revoked by the state, may yet make it onto the Senate floor via the back door.

The House Education and Public Works Committee last week inserted the bill’s language into two Senate-passed education bills in hopes of beating the clock before the legally-mandated end of the session, when all unpassed bills will die for the year and have to go back to square one next January.

Those two education bills would also address the shortage of qualified teachers that has left the state’s schools stretched thin. S.124 would create a pilot program for hiring non-certified teachers, while S.305 would count some prospective teachers’ prior work experience outside of education toward getting their certificate. After the committee vote, not one but both bills now also include the Educator Assistance Act as well.

Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, who chairs the House education committee, said she and her colleagues had inserted the bill’s language again “in their entirety, to give the Senate another opportunity.”

Erickson said she is supportive of the Senate bills’ efforts to get more people from outside the education field into the classroom, “but shouldn’t we take care of the teachers that are already in the classroom?” she said.

“We’ve given (the Senate) two more opportunities with that bill in there, and hopefully if they hear enough public outcry, they will keep the amendment in it,” Erickson said.

It’s unclear, however, if the amended education bills will receive a vote on the Senate floor before the session ends a week from Thursday, or why the original Educator Assistance Act hasn’t moved in the year since it initally passed the House. Calls to Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, were not returned Monday.

Teachers have advocated for changes to how districts handle teachers who leave their contracts early, which can often lead to the State Board of Education suspending their teaching certification and shutting them out of finding another teaching job in the Palmetto State.

A review by The State found that 166 teachers were suspended last year for breaking their contracts, at a time when hundreds of teaching jobs in the state are going unfilled.

Patrick Kelly, director of government affairs with the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said he hopes the House will approved the amended bills this week and send them back to the Senate for action before the deadline.

”I’m optimistic that the House will pass it and return it to the Senate, and then they could pass it, or they could non-concur and request a conference committee, or just let the bills die,” Kelly said. “My preference would be for them to adopt what the House is sending them, or go to conference committee, because if the bills die because of disagreement, that’s unfortunate for both sides.”

If passed into law this year in whatever form, the Educator Assistance Act bill would:

▪ Allow teachers to opt out of their contracts within 10 days of the publication of the district’s salary schedule, which often comes after teachers have already signed their contracts for the next year;

▪ Limit the amount of time a school district has to report a breach and give the State Board of Education more flexibility in issuing suspensions;

▪ Move the starting date of a suspension from the date of the state board’s action to the day a teacher quit, which would allow a suspended teacher to return to the classroom sooner;

▪ And cut the maximum suspension for a breach of contract from a year down to six months.

“It’s very frustrating to us that it has stalled,” said Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, which supports the Educator Assistance Act. “I hope they would take it up, it would be good for teachers.”