Mick-Zais-speaks-to-tea-partyWhen South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Dr. Mick Zais was elected to office he said, “To the best of my ability I will try to run the department like a business.”

Since being in office Zais has made progress in reorganizing agencies and has made the department more efficient. By reducing the size and cost of the department, Zais is able to put that money into the classroom. While speaking to the Greenville Tea Party on Thursday, November 29, 2012, he explained that 577 staff positions have been reduced down to 469. The reduction in size is permanent and permission from the General Assembly is needed to add any more positions. Zais stated that he is not done and will be eliminating more positions by not continuing them after they expire.

 

“We are continuing to reduce the size of government while at the same time providing as good, if not better, service to our students and teachers and our schools,” said Zais.

Travel expenses within the department have been cut by $861,000. By going to S.C. Comptroller General’s Transparency Website you will be able to compare expenditures on travel with Zais’ first full year and with his predecessors last full year.

Working with Greenville’s Representative Eric Bedingfield (D28), Zais was able to prohibit the adoption of the National Science Standards for South Carolina. Even though Zais has been campaigning against common core state standards, they were adopted by the State Board of Education and the State Education Oversight Committee, in accordance with state law, before his election.

Zais has developed a school visitation program, and in the three academic semesters that he’s been in office he has visited 152 schools across the state. He’s been to 41 of the 46 counties and within the next few weeks he will visit the remaining five. Once a week he tries to visit with a school.

“Now, I don’t know about my predecessors, but I do know that when I go to some of these rural school districts, folks will tell me, Dr. Zais, I’ve been in this district for 25 years and we haven’t had anybody in our district from the superintendent’s office, much less our school,” said Zais.

On the department website is an interactive map that shows all of the schools Zais has visited. Clicking on the pins over the schools will reveal information about the visit. Zais says that he will continue to keep the map updated on all of his visits.

“One thing that I’ve learned as a Lieutenant and I’ve had reinforced throughout my careers, you can’t lead anybody or anything from behind a desk. And the reason for these school visits is to get out of Columbia, talk to teachers, talk to principals, and talk to superintendents in their schools. And it’s just not fluff talk. I ask some hard questions,” said Zais.

Before a visit Zais will have done research on the school. He wants to know about the growth of the school. When he shows up he has a list of schools with identical demographics or identical levels of poverty to show them how they compare to their peer schools. One of the reasons for his research and data is to nullify any excuse about their district having poor kids and uneducated parents that don’t care about education.

“I’ve been able to show them we have schools with very high levels of poverty in this state that are knocking it out of the ball park. The parents in that school and the demographics of your students and financial support are identical. Poverty is a factor but it’s not an excuse,” said Zais.

One of the policies that Zais will be advocating for is the passage of school choice legislation. He wants to offer more options to students and parents to pick a school that meets the needs and aspirations of their child. Also he is supporting the Tuition Scholarship Bill which last year passed in the House but didn’t make it out of the Senate.

Another area that Zais will be addressing to the General Assembly is what to do about persistently failing schools. There are schools in SC that have been failing for seven to eight years in a row.  Millions of taxpayer dollars have poured into these schools above and beyond what they normally receive, with nothing to show for it.

“My perspective on this is that the adults in the system have shown that they either lack the ability or the willingness to make the changes necessary to turn around those schools,” said Zais.

Zais proposes a turnaround district in SC to take over these persistently failing schools. It will require no additional taxpayer dollars because he will just maintain the same federal, local, and state dollars that the schools are already receiving.

For those that support policies that Zais proposes, he asks you to do three things. First, he needs supporters to contact their legislators when important issues come before the General Assembly.

“I guarantee you that your legislators are hearing from the teachers and administrators and school boards who don’t want to be held accountable, who don’t want student growth included in part of an evaluation or principal’s evaluation – whose perspective on funding is, well if it’s good for the kids then the taxpayers should fund it,” said Zais.

Second, he asks for citizens to watch their school boards because that is where all the key decisions are made. Third, he asks for all to get involved in local schools if time and schedule permit.

“Even if it’s only once a week or once a month, time spent reading to a student or being around kids really is rewarding time, and can make a difference in the life of a child,” said Zais.

The public is invited to all Tea Party meetings and admission is free. For more information visit their website at www.greenville

teaparty.com. The Greenville Tea Party is a grassroots conservative organization that promotes adherence to the Constitution and the South Carolina Republican Party platform.

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