On August 7, 2019, an article came out in the Post and Courier about Melanie Barton becoming the first Senior Education Adviser to SC Governor Henry McMaster. Her salary will be the 4th largest in the State at $120,000 a year in the McMaster administration. As a taxpayer, are you fine with paying another bureaucrat to be another chef in the kitchen of education?
Did we really need another SC unelected bureaucrat making decisions about YOUR child’s education direction? Don’t we already have too many chefs in the kitchen of education as it is? We have a Superintendent Molly Spearman, We have the Senate and House education committees, We have the Education Oversight Committee and an appointed SC Board of Education trying to cook up the best recipe for our education woes in SC. Isn’t the old saying, “Too many chefs in the kitchen spoil the soup”a saying we should be thinking about before we put another chef in the kitchen of education?
Melanie recommended for this position by legislators who think she can “bridge”the gap and become the needed chef to make the Education Soup better. But let’s look at history. Melanie has been on the Education Oversight Committee since the year 2000..that’s 19 years even if you use Common Core Math. Has SC education improved since 2000? The answer is NO. She has been pushing her advice and data with no return on investment to the taxpayer and parents for nearly two decades. Is this the adviser we need to be pushing the education reform we so desperately need?
When the people who are pleased with the Governor’s choice of Melanie speak about how she can “bridge” the gap and “transform” and “change” the failing SC education system in our state, those are words that remind me of someone else who was in the White House that promised change and transformation.
In fact, failed Common Core Standards were pushed by President Obama and he promised transformation and change. Common Core was supposed to make all our students ready to compete globally… remember?
Melanie Barton as the EOC Director at the time of SC adopting Common Core Standards was all on board with Common Core which had never been PROVEN to be effective anywhere to do what its proponents claimed it would do. Barton also says education is a “passion of hers.” She wants to “improve kid’s outcomes” . Well she hasn’t so far. And she’s been trying since the year 2000; but hey, maybe she will find the magic ingredient this time. I’m not a betting person, but if I were, I think I would bet on this newly created position not doing anything other than keeping the status quo of SC lagging behind in educational outcomes.
Melanie has stated her goal in this new position as the Governor’s Education Adviser is to get “everybody focused together”…but isn’t that a vague statement? Past history shows her leadership on the EOC recommended Common Core Standards…and it took thousands of parents through the leadership of Parents Involved in Education CEO Sheri Few demanding we drop out of those standards to get the EOC to be on board with dropping those failed standards…but wait…did they really drop them? No, they only tweaked them 10% and even by their own admission, our present College/Career Ready Standards are in line by 90% with failed Common Core.
The huge question about this newly created position given to Melanie Barton is, EXACTLY what is Melanie Barton going to push that everybody get focused on this time? What will she “bridge” between the Governor, the Senate and House Legislators, the SC School Board Members, Molly Spearman and her former colleagues on the Education Oversight Committee?
The debate will certainly be interesting to follow come this January 2020 when the SC Senate takes up the debate again on what SC Education legislation will be the best for “transforming” education and what type of “change” will take place.
Will Melanie Barton be the chef that fixes the education soup so it’s tasty? Time will tell. Don’t hold your breath.
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