Hollings plugs teacher program

Senator's new idea offers incentives, educational benefits to educators who move to rural communities

Web posted October 31, 1998

By Chasiti Kirkland
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., stopped briefly in Aiken on Friday to unveil a program that soon may have national appeal.

Through the years, South Carolina has witnessed its education system inch slowly out of the scholastic cellar, but students here consistently rank low in comparison to other states.

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Nowhere is that more evident than in the state's rural counties, where the problem is compounded in that a large number of good teachers refuse to locate there.

Rural schools in southwestern South Carolina are not unique in their struggle to retain, recruit and rejuvenate teachers.

The problem is bigger than it has ever been, and it could get worse. But for the poorest of school districts, there looms a solution.

Mr. Hollings' clout on the Appropriations Committee was able to guarantee $300,000 in federal grants to fund a pilot program known as the the Rural Alliance for Teaching Enhancement program -- referred to as RATE.

Teachers in 10 rural counties that stretch from McCormick to Beaufort will be exposed to the latest research and methods for improving classroom instruction.

Locally, counties that will benefit from the program include Aiken, Edgefield, Barnwell, Allendale and McCormick.

``I had the best and brightest teaching me because teaching was the only job women could get,'' Mr. Hollings said during a brief appearance at the University of South Carolina at Aiken. ``Women are liberated now, and it's hard to recruit and keep good teachers in rural areas. That's where we need them, and we don't have enough of them, doggone it.

``The truth of the matter is that a student's education is only as strong as his or her teacher's instruction.''

Throughout the Palmetto State, public schools are already feeling the pinch of a national teacher shortage.

A survey conducted by the S.C. Center for Teacher Recruitment found nearly 300 job vacancies statewide, while it is estimated that the country will need at least 2 million new teachers in the next decade to replace retiring educators and to keep pace with skyrocketing student enrollment.

The teacher-shortage problem is exacerbated in South Carolina by full-day kindergarten and efforts to reduce class size.

Also, a proposal to require new teachers to score higher on a national test could mean an even shorter supply.

It was a busy day for Mr. Hollings, who is scrambling to keep the seat he's held for 32 years. The senator also made brief appearances in Edgefield, where he spoke at the dedication of the town's federal prison, and in Columbia, for Judge Margaret Seymour's investiture.

Mr. Hollings recommended Judge Seymour to replace William Traxler on the federal bench and pushed her nomination through the Senate before Congress adjourned for the year.

Chasiti Kirkland covers education in Aiken County for The Augusta Chronicle. She can be reached at (803) 279-6895 or scbureau@augustachronicle.com.