IF ANYONE STILL needs to be convinced to join the May 15 pro-education march, they should consider the pain administrators, teachers, students and parents are enduring as a result of the school funding trial in Manning.

While the eight school districts suing the state hope to gain from the lawsuit, they have had to unveil the most ugly things about themselves and other struggling districts along the way. Officials have had to share unflattering stories about attempts to recruit qualified teachers to remote areas, high employee turnover, substandard buildings and dealing with large numbers of underprivileged children who enter school without the most basic skills.

The officials are sharing embarrassing details that put their schools in a bad light, knowing there is no guarantee that any real help will come. They know they’re in a state where our governor and many legislators, people who have the power to improve things, either don’t get it or don’t care about our schools.

Yet administrators, teachers and others have courageously revealed hard truths about their districts and the people who work with or for them. Then they have gone back to their small communities, knowing they could be subjected to cold stares and ridicule.

A March 28 story written by State staff writers Ellyde Roko and Bill Robinson examined how testimony in the school funding trial has cast a light on woeful learning and working conditions in the school districts suing the Legislature. But that has not been without negative consequences to some who have taken the stand.

The story said witnesses have struggled to tell the truth while wondering what repercussions they might face back home.

And some did indeed get rude responses. Two school boards threatened to fire administrators because of their testimony. In another instance, an educator, who described some colleagues as lacking the skills and basic materials needed to be effective teachers, said relationships grew cold.

The story also told of the experience of Rex Whitcomb, a veteran administrator the state Department of Education dispatched to boost low academic performance in Marion 7. After Mr. Whitcomb had referred to some teachers as incompetent, he was challenged by defense attorneys to name names.

As awkward as that had to have been for him, he reluctantly wrote the names of three teachers on a slip of paper. Needless to say, that sent a shock wave through Rains, Centenary and Britton’s Neck. Can you imagine the stares Mr. Whitcomb got when he returned to the area after testifying? Can you imagine how many teachers still wonder if their names were among the three?

“We all felt like we were being labeled as inferior,” math teacher Sheila Cribb said. “Our self-esteem went way down.”

Unfortunately, this is the price that must be paid in order to get the state to live up to its obligation to our schools. Feelings and egos are being bruised, relationships are being destroyed, communities — rightfully or wrongfully — are being labeled negatively.

We are putting administrators, teachers, parents and students through the wringer in this trial.

It shouldn’t take all of this.

Lawmakers simply ought to do what is right. Even if they did not understand the grave condition many of our schools are in before, they know now.

Yet many lawmakers don’t see the need to properly fund schools so every child has an opportunity to get a quality education. Under the system we have, the quality of education children get is based largely on where they live. If they live in a poor rural county, they don’t get the kind of education afforded children in more urban, affluent areas.

You would think that every lawmaker would want to correct this problem. They should be lining up to say enough is enough. They should settle the lawsuit and work to improve education funding. Instead, they are working on a budget that once again does our kids a disservice.

Gov. Mark Sanford even has the nerve to tout an education package that doesn’t begin to address the real issues. We’ve got kids not getting the basics; yet the governor is dancing around on the fringes holding up vouchers and charter schools as if they are the entire answer. That’s a leader who is totally out of step with the real needs of this state.

That is why voters and people of good will must join the March for Education Equity. They must take to the streets and make a statement that lawmakers and our governor can’t ignore.

The sacrifices being made by our fellow South Carolinians in the school funding trial should not be in vain.

Reach Mr. Bolton at (803) 771-8631 or wbolton@thestate.com.