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Bernie Sanders: Here's what has to change in South Carolina and the nation
Bernie Sanders, Submitted opinion-editorial Published 7:06 a.m. ET April 18, 2019
Editor's note: Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, is seeking the Democratic Party nomination to run for president in 2020. He submitted this op-ed in advance of his visit to the Upstate Thursday and Friday.
Excerpt:
This week, I am visiting South Carolina to learn more about the challenges facing Upstate residents, especially in public education, criminal justice and rural issues. I want to find out about how we can work together to address some of the state’s most serious problems, and reach people in communities that have been left behind.
Across this country, teachers have been on strike because they are badly underpaid. They lack basic supplies, work in rundown classrooms, and their professional expertise is undermined by excessive standardized testing that takes the joy out of learning. Far too many are leaving the profession entirely.
These dynamics have reached crisis levels in South Carolina, where public schools lag behind national averages in reading, writing and job preparedness. Many schools are racially segregated, and magnet and charter schools are drawing resources and high-performing students away. Meanwhile, amid cuts in funding for school programs, one in five children in South Carolina is going without meals.
This year, the situation has become an emergency. The start of school saw a 16 percent increase in unfilled teacher vacancies, and teacher pay was well below the national average. Adding insult to injury, under President Trump’s new budget, South Carolina would lose $28 million of grants to help high-poverty schools boost teacher salaries. Overall, South Carolina’s public education system would lose roughly $246 million under the Trump budget, denying 14,000 students access to after-school programs.
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/opinion/2019/04/18/bernie-sanders-heres-what-has-change-south-carolina-and-nation/3495182002/
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