Sanford: Money won't cure schools

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Tenenbaum has asked for $457 million more next year and wants a penny sales tax increase to pay for it. Sanford wants the education system reformed and opposes any tax increase, as well as the $457 million request.

"We've had very significant increases in education funding over the past 20 years and yet we still rank next to last in the nation in SAT scores, next to last in graduation rates and recently found out that none of our school districts were able to meet the new federal standards for adequate yearly progress," Sanford said. "So it seems to me that we've got a pretty clear choice — we can either keep pouring billions of dollars into that system, or we can reform it so that parents have more choices in the education marketplace and more education dollars are actually making it to the classroom."

Jim Foster, a spokesman for Tenenbaum, said Sanford's remarks were a surprise as well as disappointing.

"It's misleading to say we've increased education funding over the past 20 years but leave off the fact that our SAT scores are improving faster than any state in the country," he said. "It's meant to leave the impression of stagnation when the opposite has happened."

Most of Tenenbaum's request would merely make up for funding lost in budget cuts, Foster said. The current amount of base student cost — $1,743 — is approximately the same as what the state gave in 1996, Foster said. There have been six major budget cuts since 2001.

"Basically what the superintendent wants is for the General Assembly to follow state law and fully fund the base student cost," he said. "She wants the General Assembly to follow its commitments and fund its mandates, and that's the bulk of her proposal, pure and simple."

Foster said there is ample evidence South Carolina's schools are improving.

South Carolina high school seniors have improved their average SAT score by 38 points in the past five years, he said, the largest gain in the country and four times the national increase.

The number of South Carolina first-graders scoring "ready" for school is at an all-time high, according to the Education Department. South Carolina students have dramatically improved their performance on "The Nation's Report Card," a set of standardized tests administered by the federal government.

Will Folks, a spokesman for Sanford, said the governor is not claiming a total lack of improvement.

"I think what the governor is pointing out is we are never going to achieve the kind of reforms we're capable of unless we follow through on those two core fronts, putting some real market pressure on the system and maximizing the dollar taxpayers spend," he said.

Tenenbaum's request for an increase of $323 million last year was rejected.

Lawmakers are facing a budget shortfall next year of between $350 million and $500 million.

Folks said the governor plans to outline his reform plans through various legislative proposals and in his budget recommendations, which he said would be released soon.

He said the governor's opposition to Tenenbaum's budget request has nothing to do with her campaign for the Senate.

"We view it strictly as a matter of state policy," he said, adding that Sanford's stance on reform is "consistent with what he's campaigned on and where he's been from day one, which is bringing more market pressure to bear on the system."