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House education champion to retire
By BILL ROBINSON
brobinson@thestate.com
The man who shepherded the 1998 law that gave the state Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests and school report cards made an ambling lap around the House chambers Thursday to greet colleagues and well-wishers.
Word was circulating that Rep. Ronny Townsend, a hulking State House fixture for 22 years, will call it a career in June.
“We’re going to miss you,” Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, said, looking the 6-foot-4-inch Townsend in the eye and pumping his hand. “I’ve learned a lot from you. You’ll be missed.”
It was a sentiment echoed by many who know or who have worked with the Republican from rural, southern Anderson County.
“Don’t do it,” implored Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland, as the two robust men embraced. “It’s a great loss for education.”
Both are House Education Committee members; Townsend, 58, has been the panel’s chairman since 1994 — when he was a Democrat.
State education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, a Democrat, called Townsend “South Carolina’s leading advocate for public education for many years. He understood the issues, not only from a state perspective, but from a classroom view. He worked tirelessly to locate resources for education reform.”
Townsend explained he was ready to return to life as a self-employed insurance salesman and gentleman farmer.
He conceded it has “been ages” since he indulged in a favorite pastime — square-dancing with his wife, Patricia, a high school English teacher — and he’s looking forward to reconnecting with friends and neighbors who serve in a volunteer firefighting unit he helped form.
As House Education Committee chairman, Townsend presided over a panel where most of the initial discussions and debate about key laws affecting the state’s 1,100 public schools — especially school reform in the late 1990s — took place.
He also was a charter member of the Education Oversight Committee, created to monitor school reform.
Townsend said the recent dust-up between that agency’s governing board and the state Board of Education over writing science standards for evolution has focused attention on loopholes in the school reform law he thinks need to be revisited.
“That’s for the next General Assembly to deal with,” he said with a wry smile.
Still, Townsend said, “I truly believe our education system is headed in the right direction. Our schools are in a lot better shape than we give them credit.
“We haven’t let people know we’ve turned the corner.”
More recently, Townsend bucked Gov. Mark Sanford and some fellow Republicans who unsuccessfully backed legislation that called for giving families a tax credit for enrolling children in private schools.
As he winds down his political career, Townsend said he would like to see the Legislature embrace a stronger charter school bill that he said he has spent six years working to pass.
Townsend characterizes himself as “just a country boy” — he lives on land a king of England deeded to his “great-great-great-granddaddy” in the late 1700s — but has the respect of lawmakers from both parties and the education community.
Scott Price, the S.C. School Boards Association’s lobbyist, said “Representative Townsend’s leadership on the Education Committee has been marked by fairness, a passion for public education and the ability to make things happen.”
Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, said House members look to Townsend for guidance when contemplating education issues, especially when explaining the formula that guides how much the Legislature should spend on public schools.
“I’m going to miss him as a friend and as a colleague,” Cooper said. “It’s a loss for Anderson County.”
Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.
