-- MINIMALLY ADEQUATE: S.C. SCHOOL FUNDING LAWSUIT

A daily wrap-up of the trial

MANNING -- A former rural middle school principal says his students were denied a good education because of poorly maintained buildings, underqualified teachers and inadequate teaching materials.

"If I lived in Marion School District 7, I would be seeking an alternative education opportunity for my children," said Rex Whitcomb, a principal specialist sent by the state to lead the district's middle school for two years.

He spoke of the problems he observed there during testimony Friday in a school funding lawsuit in Clarendon County in which eight rural school districts are challenging the way the state funds and supports education.

Whitcomb lamented the condition of the school, describing pictures that showed missing and water-stained ceiling tiles.

"It was a roof over our head as long as you were standing in the right place," Whitcomb said. That facility is being replaced this year.

As the district's superintendent did in two days of earlier testimony, Whitcomb said poor performance on state tests and a high dropout rate were in large part a result of underqualified teachers.

"The quality of teachers ranges from top-drawer to incompetent," Whitcomb said.

In cross-examination, Bobby Stepp, lead attorney representing the state Legislature, told Whitcomb to identify the "incompetent" teachers, by writing them on a piece of paper.

Whitcomb shifted in his seat after submitting a list of three teachers to Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Cooper.

Stepp then read from an earlier deposition in which Whitcomb said there were no teachers "unqualified to teach what they are teaching."

Stepp will continue cross-examining Whitcomb when the trial reconvenes at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Attorneys for the school district plan to call to the stand another principal and a teacher from Marion 7, along with Holley Ulbrich, an economist from Clemson University.