Tag: Darla Moore

FLORENCE — Teachers should walk out en masse and the state’s biggest employers should threaten to leave if legislators don’t pass sweeping changes this year to begin transforming South Carolina’s education system, said leading businesswoman and philanthropist Darla Moore. “If I were a Boeing or BMW — 1) I would not come to South Carolina because of the education system. Today, given their economic power in this state, those and others, I would go to the leadership of this state and say, ‘You need to do something about this or I’m going to leave,’” said Moore. She’s a Lake City native whose latest projects include a $23 million career center she’s funding for local high-schoolers. Henry McMaster and House Speaker Jay Lucas in the months since the report, saying they’ve shown courage he hasn’t seen in decades. Carter called Lucas’ bill introduced last week a “fantastic beginning.” The massive, 84-page bill requires new approaches in not only K-12 schools but also technical colleges and universities’ teacher-training programs. “This is an existential crisis.” The sweeping reforms she advocates include tossing out the way teachers are paid — something Lucas’ bill would eventually do — which is sure to draw opposition from teacher advocacy groups as it moves through the legislative process. Lucas proposes phasing in a 10 percent pay raise over the next two to three years — which teachers are applauding — but then switching to a system that promotes teachers according to performance and duties, which some are calling a nonstarter. I’m going to give you a really good raise,’ or ’You’re a terrible teacher. “Our students need every precious minute of class time they get in the state of South Carolina,” he said.