South Carolina Public School Teachers Disappointed After GEER Funding Announcement S.C. Public School Teachers Disappointed After GEER Funding Allocation

WILLISTON, SC   (NCC News) — Many South Carolina public school teachers are disappointed in Governor Henry McMaster because he chose to give private schools $32 million of the $48 million total from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief  (GEER) fund. The GEER fund is funded by part of the CARES Act. Private school money is to be used to create one time tuition grants valued up to $6,500 for roughly 5,000 students. The first $2,500 will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis and the remainder will be distributed in a lottery.

Of the remaining budget, $2.4 million was divided between the state’s historically Black colleges and universities,  leaving roughly $14 million to be split among all public schools.

Kellie Sanders, a current reading coach with 21 years experience teaching in public schools, is upset because many private schools were already offered funding. But,  public schools barely had enough money to cover costs of cleaning supplies.

“[Private schools] could qualify for loans and then also they got this scholarship money, but they do not have to follow the same guidelines that public schools do,” she said. “For example, the buses the spacing in the classrooms and all the CDC guidelines. They are a little more relaxed than what the public schools have to be.”

Sanders said public schools did already receive some funding but it only covered some of the basics like masks, sanitizer stations and thermometers. She is worried districts will suffer.

“With everything else going on with spacing in the classrooms and not being able to put but one child per seat on a bus, unless you are part of a family unit, it is going to cost the district so much money in manpower and supplies, she said. “That $32million he gave to scholarships for private schools would have gone a long way to help Title 1 schools like ours who just don’t have the reserves to pay out for all the extras. Even things like the cute little plexiglass shields that we see all over Facebook. There’s no money for those, the teachers have to pay out of pocket.”

Sanders said a consequence of public schools not getting the money is that many will go without supplies and have to furlough teachers.

“Teachers I know in other districts are being furloughed, especially like your arts teachers and things like that,” she said. “It could have gone to cover lost wages, plexiglass shields, more cleaning supplies and things we don’t have access to.”

Sanders said she does not want to seem like she is against private schools because she is never against using government money to buy supplies to keep students and teachers safe. However, she feels the tuition money given to them is unfair.

“I just don’t believe that this is the time for scholarship,” she said. Not when you have so many other schools that will have all these increased costs so that they can meet the guidelines. This is just not the time for scholarships. Help them provide any kind of protection they need as long as it doesn’t exceed what you’re already giving public.”

Sara Stanton, a current media specialist in a Title 1 school, agrees that private schools should not have received as much money as they did because their restrictions on what they can use money for are so much lower than public schools.

“When we get our money we are told what to do with it, our hands are tied, we must jump through hoops,” she said. [McMaster] is giving money to private schools that don’t have any hoops they have to jump through. They can take who they want , they can kick them out if they’re no good, they can change their curriculum to suit their student body.”

She thinks it is good that private schools do not have to follow any of those rules, but thinks the publicly funded money should not being going towards them.

“I think thats a great thing about private schools, that they don’t have to do any of that,” she said. But, if they don’t have to do it they shouldn’t get the money, so that has been my objection to it.”

McMaster’s proposed plan is currently frozen in court. A lawsuit was filed against McMaster by a former teacher living in Orangeburg, S.C.  Teacher advocacy groups such as The Palmetto State Teachers Association have also released statements about their “disappointment” with the governor’s decision and vow to support the court case against McMaster.

Until a decision is made,  public school teachers have been encouraged to call their representatives and demand a change in funding for public schools.