Remarks by Governor David M. Beasley

1997 Governor's Conference on Education

February 12, 1997

Thanks, Kathy, for your commitment to education as a founding member of the Business Center. This is my third Governor's Conference, the sixth for the Business Center and the 36th for the state School Boards Association.

Together, we've been working on the mission of education for a lot of years, but I believe this is one of the most promising times yet for public education in South Carolina.

Not only are we patching the broken places in our schools, with technology and renovations and support for educators, but we're setting our sights even higher...toward the standards and measures for a new era of educational excellence.

All of you in this room have seized that vision...school board members, educators, superintendents and administrators, the PTA, leaders of business.

And I believe that we are ready to bring that vision of hope to every school child in South Carolina.

Last year, you may recall that we invested the most money in education since the Education Improvement Act. And we did it without a tax increase.

--We've collected over $95 million so far to build new schools, repair old schools and, for the first time in history, provide college scholarship assistance to over 13,000 students.

--Our school technology plan is entering its second phase to bring computers and interactive technology into every school.

--We're funding full-day kindergarten for early learning.

--We're doubling the size of the Governor's School for Science and Math, and making year-round the Governor's School for the Arts in Greenville.

All tolled, we've earmarked nearly 45 percent of new money in my executive budget to build on our educational commitments.

All of these initiatives support the appendages of this educational body. But today, we're ready to go straight to the heart of education...to bring our schools and our students into a new fullness of life.

After all, it's the heart that keeps the rest of the body functioning and growing. And the heart of South Carolina's educational experience should be the strong and steady drumbeat of back to the basics learning.

Without a constant focus on the fundamentals coursing through our schools, the work of the rest of the body will never reach full strength. And the high-level jobs that our business leaders are creating will go unfilled.

But if we hold at our very core the time-tested standards of learning...math, science, English, foreign language...and if we strengthen the requirements for graduation from 20 to 24 credits in those areas of study...every aspect of learning will be stronger. And every child will be closer to filling the shoes the world is creating for them...scientist, computer programmer, engineer.

Thomas Edison once said that "If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."

Spoken by man who was once labeled too dumb to learn...then he astounded the world by becoming the father of a thousand patents, including the light bulb.

Every child is beautiful and talented, with a light inside just waiting to be turned on. And I'm not just talking about my perfect children!

Our greatest challenge in public education is to recognize that wealth of potential within every child.

Last year at the National Governor's Association Education Summit, I committed South Carolina to the creation of higher, more rigorous standards within two years' time. Today, I'm proud to say that we are well on our way.

As you know, I've called together some of South Carolina's greatest minds in business and education in what's called the PASS Commission.

A couple of our PASS members, Larry Wilson and James Bennett, are right here on the front row today. And they're going to spend the next six months on the front row to the inner workings of our schools.

They'll be identifying globally-competitive academic standards. They will determine how South Carolina measures up against those models. And they will make recommendations on what our standards should be and how we can reach them.

PASS had its first meeting last week, where they first set standards for their own performance.

First, they committed to coming up with an outstanding plan. They said their recommendations would be fair and reasonable.

They won't use PASS as a partisan vehicle; their only special interest will be the good of the children.

And even though this is a totally independent body, with no preconceived notions of what will come out of it, PASS won't reinvent the wheel. They'll make a conscious effort to learn from the legwork education groups have already done.

In fact, at that very first meeting, the Business Center presented its white paper on school accountability...a project done in partnership with the School Boards.

PASS will also be looking at information from public hearings and the work of the state Superintendent and the state Board of Education on curriculum frameworks and content standards.

In the end, all these pieces will come together in one plan that gives our children our very best, based on solid research and active partnership.

We can then pledge to every business that you will find employees ready for work. To every university that you will have freshmen ready to learn. And most importantly, to every young person that the dream of prosperity will be within your reach.

But even as we set the bar high, it's the teachers who will instruct and inspire our children to cross it.

In an educator's line of work, maybe more than anywhere else, learning never stops. And to keep, recruit and grow superior teachers, we must offer superior training and support.

We can do that by offering needs-specific training and incentives for national certification. We will create a better support network for new teachers. We can encourage creativity by expanding the teacher grant program.

And for the first time, we are asking the General Assembly to help us recruit and maintain the best by finally raising teacher pay above the southeastern average.

After all, "teachers affect eternity," John Quincy Adams said. It's as simple as that.

Our goal is to flood our schools with dynamic teachers, to put the right tools in their hands, and to give them high standards to strive toward. Putting these three together isn't a new idea, but it's certainly a powerful combination.

Let me give you an example from one elementary school all the way across the country, near the site of the Los Angeles riots.

Most of the students there are poor immigrants from single parent homes; many of their parents are alcoholic, most don't even speak English.

But in the classroom of Mr. Esquith, students leave the sixth grade with a year of algebra and eight Shakespearean plays under their belt.

His junior acting group has even performed with Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company.

In the math section of their comprehensive district test last year, his fifth-graders scored in the 98th percentile, twice as well as the rest of the district. In English...his students' second language...they scored almost three times as well as the district.

He keeps following their progress even after they leave elementary school, inviting them over on weekends to prepare for the SAT.

Now his classroom is covered with banners of the universities his former students now attend...many of them as the first generation ever to make it to college.

"I put my heart and soul into my teaching," he says. "I demand the same from them."

High expectations and hard work bring results...no matter where you live, no matter what the circumstances.

There's no room for excuses in the classroom of Mr. Esquith...only excellence. And so it should be in every classroom in South Carolina.

We already have dynamic teachers and excellent schools all across our state. We can...and should...have them everywhere.

Achieving that mission statewide will take family involvement, business input, a foundation in the basics and a vision for tomorrow.

But as Theodore Roosevelt said, "It is far better to dare mighty things than to live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Within every child is great potential...a spark for a light of learning that will guide his footsteps for the rest of his days.

When the light is burning in 645,000 of South Carolina's school children, we will have built nothing less than a shining city on a hill....one that can't be hidden...one that can never be put out.

Thank you for being willing to light the fire of lifelong learning in our children...for their hope and for our future.