Date Published: January 10, 2007   

Tenenbaum says her 8 years made state's education system better

By SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press Writer

Exiting state education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum said she believes she'll be remembered for putting programs in place that created a brighter future for South Carolina's children.

"My legacy will be that I laid the foundation," she said earlier this week, sitting in an empty office once filled with furniture, pictures and student mementoes.

She said the hardest things she dealt with over her two terms were taking control of the failing Allendale School District in 1999 and fighting Gov. Mark Sanford on his school voucher plan.

Tenebaum's administration implemented the state's 1998 Education Accountability Act, which involved creating statewide standards and tests for determining whether students meet them as well as report cards for grading schools. The federal No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2002, added more layers of accountability to administer.

"I put in place meaningful, long-lasting policies that can produce higher academic achievement if we stay focused. By staying focused, the Legislature has to make education their No. 1 priority," she said Monday.

The Democrat said she has no regrets about not seeking a third term. And though she's saddened to leave a job she says consumed her life for eight years, she feels a "great sense of peace and accomplishment" in handing it over to fellow Democrat Jim Rex, who beat Republican Karen Floyd by just 455 votes.

Tenenbaum takes pride in South Carolina being ranked first nationwide recently in education accountability, and being ranked second for the last two years in improving teacher quality.

But critics said Tenenbaum wasn't improving education fast enough, defending a system that wasn't getting results and opposing more radical changes like vouchers.

Tenenbaum said it made her angry to hear constant criticism of public education during her second term and her unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2004. The perception is that South Carolina's education system is last nationwide, and it's not, she said.

It upset her, for example, to watch Sanford say on national television that South Carolina has poor schools.

"I don't like to see anyone demoralize the teachers who work so hard," she said. "I think success breeds success. ... Praise people for good and help them. You shouldn't hide the bare facts. Look at the bare facts. But resolve to do better."

An independent study last year found South Carolina's fourth- and eighth-graders score around the national average on national standardized tests and lead the nation in improvement. But it also confirmed South Carolina has the nation's worst dropout rate and its students lag in SAT scores, even when the percentage of students who take the test state-by-state is factored in.

Tenenbaum also received criticism for the state takeover of Allendale County schools, which she said was a tough job made tougher by what she called a "belligerent" school board that liked to stir up the community. The state agreed last year to return most of the local school board's power.

Allendale County's report card grade remains unsatisfactory, the lowest of the state's ratings. But Tenenbaum said the state did succeed in making Allendale - where teachers once wondered if they'd get paid - financially stable, cleaning up the rundown schools, instilling order, filling vacancies and training teachers. The state also started a free dental clinic in Allendale, one of the state's poorest counties.

The experience "made me understand the complexity of raising the academic achievement in a district where nearly every child is on free lunch," Tenenbaum said.

"People don't realize the extent of poverty in the rural areas," she said. "We have one of the lowest per capita incomes in the nation. That is no accident. Our people, many quit school before they are well trained and they won't go get it."

Overcoming those challenges requires changing parents' attitudes. Teachers can light students desire to learn, but it's very difficult to do that and keep it burning on their own, she said.

"The culture of Allendale must change so parents desperately want their children to finish high school and model that behavior by getting involved," she said.

Tenenbaum, a former teacher and the daughter and sister of teachers, called teaching "the hardest, most difficult job I've had or anyone has ever had."

Despite several job offers, Tenenbaum says she's made no commitments. She wants to take a couple months off to work in her garden and house before deciding what to do next. She does, however, plan to remain an advocate for children.

"That's really my mission my entire life," she said.