There is also a shortage of available administrators to provide effective school and district leadership. Professional development and planning are integral to teacher support and professional growth. These tests should hold South Carolina students, teachers, administrators, School Boards, and families to rigorous achievement standards that reflect a true partnership in which every concerned party is accountable for the results. To ensure effective implementation of EAA at the district and school levels, changes in current legislation are needed. There are currently many successful public school choice programs and other educational options offered by local school districts.
School choice is an issue most appropriately addressed by local school boards.
A state mandated choice program will not engender positive competition among schools to the benefit of children or to education as a whole. Mandated school choice may serve to further skew funding inequities and racial imbalance among schools and districts. The General Assembly should support the Accountability Through Schools of Promise initiative by providing flow-through dollars or challenge grants to local districts and community groups to support family, school and community collaboration focused on academic achievement. The General Assembly should mandate non-partisan elections, fiscal autonomy for all local school boards, and require the state to send a district's financial allocation directly to the district. The governance structure and fiscal authority of local school boards are key components of a sound and meaningful system of public schools.