Frank Holleman poses with teachers from Aiken County
This is a very difficult year for teachers across South Carolina. Because of budget cuts, their classes have grown in size, money for supplies has been cut, and many have faced furloughs. Some of their colleagues have lost their jobs or gone into early retirement. And with each year, the burdens on teachers have grown.
In the long run, we need to work to lower class size and to compensate and treat teachers like the essential professionals they are.
At the same time, we need to pursue policies that let teachers teach. I often hear concerns that teachers are occupied with paperwork, clerical duties, and administrative chores. Diverting the energies of a talented teacher to these tasks is a terrible waste of resources and of human capital.
As Superintendent, I want to examine closely all processes that come from the State Department. There needs to be a thoughtful balance of useful data collection and consumption of resources in local classrooms and schools. At the same time, we can also look at what happens in local districts to reduce the burdens on teachers. This analysis must include the input and participation of public school teachers who know firsthand the challenges they face.
Education is about the liberation of the human spirit, and teachers are the people who lead students to new understandings. We need to ensure that their energies are focused on the development of the children in their classrooms and not on chores that hurt their morale and dull their enthusiasm.
There is no evidence that any of these proposals would save the state budget any significant amount of money or anywhere close to the substantial cost of my opponent’s tax credit proposals.
This week, South Carolina’s representatives were in Washington explaining why our State should win a $175 million grant in the national Race to the Top competition. In the first round, we finished 6th of all states, but only two states were awarded grants. In the second round, we ran past 21 states and are one of 19 finalists. If we receive the grant, South Carolina will be in the forefront of public education reform in America.
Yesterday, the 
The last week of June, career and technical educators from across South Carolina gathered in Greenville to exchange ideas, to meet with business and industry leaders, and to learn about the most effective approaches to preparing students for a very competitive world economy. I was the only candidate for S.C. Superintendent in attendance.
Of all the regrettable political spectacles in South Carolina recently, perhaps the worst was the sorry sight of South Carolinians having to fight to overturn vetoes that threatened a variety of education initiatives. Among other efforts, the vetoes were aimed at arts education, community public libraries, and SC ETV. The arts, libraries, and ETV build our communities, our economy, and our culture. They are essential to the quality education of our children and of all adults.