Will South Carolina make the 'leap forward' in education reform in 2019?

In his more than 30 years in education, Spartanburg School District 4 Superintendent Rallie Liston said he's heard state legislators discuss a number of fixes for South Carolina's public education system.

But now, maybe more than ever, he said he's hopeful for state-level education reform that could make an impact for students, teachers and taxpayers.

"Are we closer to outright solving things? I'm not so sure, but the playing field might be set," Liston said. "If they were ever going to make changes that can make a difference, I think the time might be right for that right now."

Liston said conversations at both the state and federal level — solutions pushed by education groups and public educators in other states — have combined with the sense that South Carolina has studied its issues enough to know what could be fixed.

"You've got state budget surpluses, and the economy is good," Liston said. "It could happen now."

Lawmakers last week previewed the topic, among others, for media ahead of the launch of the new legislative session. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, acknowledged a state budget surplus along with the challenge of prioritizing ways to spend it.

The bi-partisan panel agreed that education reform could take center stage in the upcoming year, but broke down over the complexities inherent in changing the system. Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, sparred over the funding levels and education results, for instance, while Rep. Mike Sottile, R-Charleston, said significant reform could take years.

Republican state Rep. Rita Allison of Lyman, the chairwoman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, sounded a more optimistic tone Friday.

"Education reform has to make a leap forward this year," Allison said. "And just listening to those conversations, I think we're hearing that it will."

Allison highlighted dozens of bills that already have been filed in both the House and Senate to bolster her point and challenged Sottile's view that the process needs further study.

"We've studied, we've looked and we've listened to a lot of folks on this issue," Allison said. "There are other states doing smart things. At this point, it's a matter of biting the bullet and making the leap."

Allison said her top priorities include finding ways to recruit and retain teachers — higher salaries will play a role, she said — along with finding ways to holistically support teachers' efforts in the classroom.

"We consistently hear about discipline issues, testing requirements, about all the other things that keep them from being able to enter the classroom, close the door and teach," Allison said.

Revamping funding, which could require changes to the way property taxes are structured, could be a hot button issue that could derail the process, Allison said, but lawmakers should still broach the subject.

"We've done it piecemeal," Allison said. "We're to a point, I think, when this has to be done."

Underscoring the point: House Speaker Jay Lucas has said education would be his top legislative priority this year, according to the Associated Press.

Liston said he hopes three issues see significant improvement in 2019, including calendar flexibility, increases in teacher salaries and improvements to the way school districts are funded at both the local and state levels. He said he's less optimistic about comprehensive reform than Allison.

"The calendar issue is a political issue, it is, but that is something that is truly fixable," Liston said. "If you're having the conversation, you can get that done."

Funding will be a more complex conversation, Liston said, with problems that have developed over decades.

"If you're going to go for everything, all or nothing, you might get nothing," Liston said. "But can we make changes that can improve things 20 or 30 percent? I think we can, and we should. Teacher pay can be increased because anything we can do to recruit and retrain these folks, well we should do that."