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Friday, May 23, 2003			Search recent stories:				Subscribe to the H-J
Home Find and Shop Job Listings Featured Jobs Cars Classifieds Physicians Guide Upstate Living Top Stops News Sports Stroller Obituaries Opinion Business Escape Life Photos Palmetto Recruiting Weather Fun Stuff Crosswords Astroblobs Flash Trivia Herald-Journal Subscribe Advertising Page Reprints Photo Reprints H-J Archives About the H-J Newspapers in Education Celebrate Community Contact Us Regular Mail PO Box 1657 Spartanburg SC 29304-1657 E-mail us Circulation Classifieds Letters / Opinion The Stroller General Phone 864.582.4511 Staff listings			ARTICLE OPTIONS:  E-mail this article  |  print this article Posted on May 22, 2003 Senate shouldn't kill Education Oversight Committee In its budget deliberations, the S.C. Senate has decided to save a little money by scrapping the key to the state's education accountability system. It's a poor decision that will do little good in the short term and much harm in the long term. The House should refuse to go along with the Senate. Senators voting for the provision said they could save the state about $1.2 million by killing the Education Oversight Committee. That may seem like a significant amount but not when senators are looking for more than $200 million to balance the budget. It does them practically no good in reaching their ultimate goal. Senators also claimed that the committee duplicates the efforts of the state Department of Education. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the Education Oversight Committee is the only authority in the state education system that is not controlled by the professional education bureaucracy. That's why abolishing the committee is tantamount to canceling the state's education accountability system. The system was never embraced by the education system. Many, if not most, professional educators bristled at the method of evaluating schools and districts and making them accountable to parents and communities. If the accountability process is left to the Education Department, it will slowly lose its effectiveness and meaning. The Education Oversight Committee is made up mostly of businesspeople and independent observers who have no interest in protecting the educational status quo or in covering up its failures. If the committee is scrapped, and the Education Department is in sole charge of the process, that independence is lost, and professional education bureaucrats with a vested interest in the status quo will have total control. When the General Assembly passed the Education Accountability Act, it took a step forward. It let the state know that our education system would be evaluated and measured and the results would be shared with parents and the public. Abolishing the Education Oversight Committee is a step back from that promise.				Also in Opinion • Letters • Editorials • Perspective In Perspective Trend of 'mega-schools' should end Small neighborhood schools could be making a comeback in South Carolina if a bipartisan coalition of legislators, including several from the Upstate, has anything to do with it. Task force eyes balanced growth and protection of resources As South Carolinians, we are blessed with an exceptional quality of life: healthy communities, a diverse cultural heritage and abundant natural resources. Although these blessings have been ours to enjoy for many years, they now are threatened by the deleterious impacts of unbalanced, poorly managed growth. County is facing serious challenges to manage growth, sprawl Growth represents the greatest challenge that Spartanburg County faces in trying to maintain and improve the quality of life for its residents. Much of blame for rising malpractice premiums rests with insurance industry In writing this opinion regarding so-called tort reform in America, please remember it is offered from a unique perspective. I'm not one to tout the party line, and as complex as the problem is, it would be an insult to do so. Those who push for tort reform are basing their arguments on fiction, not fact Spartanburg County is no paradise for jury verdicts -- unless you are a defendant. In fact, the conservative nature of our juries is consistent with the rest of the state. So why all this rush to limit recovery of victims who suffer at the hands of others? Without liability reform, health care availability will be in jeopardy If meaningful, significant medical liability reform is not enacted soon, this country and our state will face seriously limited access to care such as we have never known before.

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