Race in District 26 Provides Clear Contrast

Carol Joan Gibson is challenging Roger Meek for the school board seat in District 26 on Greenville’s west side. Meek has served four four-year terms on the board and Gibson hopes to provide fresh ideas and renewed energy with no past decisions to justify.

All 6 Greenville County School Board members up for reelection this year have challenges in the Nov. 2 General Election. This is believed to be the first time this happened in at least a decade, indicating the degree of dissatisfaction with the current board.

The School District of Greenville County is the largest employer in the County with a budget much larger than any other government agency in the county. It requires more than half of all the property taxes collected in the county.

The school board holds 11 public board meetings and 11 committee meetings per year. They draw a salary that exceeds $700 each, per regular meeting, and have a travel expense account that includes food and lodging.

The current 12-member school board is composed of mostly liberal big spenders, although the school board is theoretically non-partisan. The board has lobbied the state government to accept stimulus money. They raised taxes on property owners. They borrowed an additional $30 million dollars during the current recession that was authorized by the Obama Administration.  The loan must be paid back in a lump sum in 15 years. Some of the current board members circumvented the South Carolina constitutional debt limit by setting up a corporation staffed by former school board member to issue contracts for construction and conduct other business for the elected school board without accountability to the taxpayers. As a result, county property owners accrued a debt created by the school board that exceeded one billion dollars to be paid off with property taxes in the next 20 years. The state General Assembly quickly passed a bill that was signed into law by the Governor prohibiting the practice in the future.

The school board race in District 26 between 16-year incumbent Roger Meek and challenger, Carol Joan Gibson, offers a clear contrast in education, experience and approach to teaching and use of funds.

Meek along with his wife operate an insurance agency in Greenville. He is currently the longest serving member of the board. He does not always go along with the majority of the board on matters dealing with students and teachers, but has supported all of the borrowing and spending programs that have put county property owners in jeopardy during an economic downturn.

Carol Gibson is an experienced teacher and school administrator, having been involved with education in public and private schools in Houston, Texas, Columbus, Mississippi, Hamburg, Germany and Tehran, Iran. She is currently a volunteer with Release Time Christian Education at Tanglewood.

She has excellent educational credentials. She holds a M. Ed. degree from the University of Washington, an MS in biology from Western Reserve University and BS in Biology from Grove City College.

“I am concerned about the high cost and not always such high quality of education public schools are providing our children.”

Her concerns include the lack of grammar, spelling and basic mathematical skills being taught in the schools. She believes students should be taught phonics, how to diagram sentences and to do mathematics without a calculator.

She has heard about high school graduates who have trouble reading and high school students who can’t read their textbooks.

Parents are sending their children to charter schools, paying twice to send them to private schools or home schooling. Adequate funds are available to provide an excellent education if they were directed to teaching and learning. “If we make sure sufficient funds get to the classrooms and qualified teachers are given the support to maintain discipline, and the opportunity to use their knowledge and skills to teach their students, we should not have as many problems with dropouts and graduates who can’t read, communicate effectively and do simple everyday math.”

 

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