Opinion: Maness Clear Choice for State Superintendent

Observer Editorial Board

The Anderson Observer does not routinely publish endorsements of political candidates, but Tuesday’s Republican Party Runoff for South Carolina State Superintendent is a critical race that could jeopardize the immediate future of the state’s public schools. 

The two remaining candidates Kathy Maness and Ellen Weaver, offer stark contrasts in both experience and approach to the position. 

There is a reason State Education Superintendent Molly Spearman is endorsing Maness, the longtime teachers’ advocate in the race to be the next leader of South Carolina’s K-12 public school system.  

Spearman, who is not seeking a third term, and who will be missed, said she supports Maness because of her experience in the classroom, knowledge of the state’s diversity/disparities as well as her understanding of the political process that funds and sets education policy. 

Maness, who serves as executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association, has been advocating for teachers at the Statehouse since 1993 and has built professional connections with legislators, a key element to success.

“She is definitely the most experienced and is fully qualified, no question,” Spearman told The Post and Courier earlier this month. “The things that are important to me: She’s a teacher. She knows the legislative process,” said Spearman. “She’s been probably in more schools than I’ve been in. The part I think is really, really important is that overall knowledge of South Carolina and an appreciation of the rural versus urban, the world-class versus struggling.”

Maness faces Ellen Weaver, director of the Palmetto Promise Institute, a conservative think tank founded by former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in Tuesday’s runoff elections.

In addition to Spearman’s words of support for a candidate with extensive public education experience, there are other fundamental reasons for voting for Maness. 

Unlike her opponent, Maness has all of the baseline qualifications for the office, including a master’s degree, something Weaver lacks. Weaver has said if she wins the primary, she will have a master’s degree before the November elections. Such a statement is not only somewhat dubious, but an affront to higher education. After an extensive online search, no higher education institutions with a five-month program to receive a master’s degree were to be found. One university, Capella, offered an intensive six-month degree but only if the candidate is eligible for credits for previous years of education experience and academic credentials. 

The second is the requirement that the state superintendent of education has “broad-based experience” in public education or finance. 

Maness, who holds a master’s degree in early childhood education from the University of South Carolina, as well as a “master’s-plus-30 certification” in education administration from Winthrop University, certainly exceeds the qualifications. 

“I’ve traveled to every school district in the state of South Carolina,” Maness said. “There are schools that really, really need to be improved. I’ve testified before the general assembly and said ‘There are schools in South Carolina that I wouldn’t let my three children go to.’ If they’re not good enough for my children, they’re not good enough for my children, they’re not good enough for any child in South Carolina. We have to do better.”

Weaver, a Bob Jones University graduate, said she has enrolled in a master’s program in leadership through Western Governor’s University, but has offered few details. She does not meet the qualification of experience in public education, and in face, has been an ardent advocate of private-school vouchers at the expense of the state’s public schools.  

“We’ve got to look at our critical infrastructure needs,” Weaver, who’s only experience in education is serving the S.C. Educational Oversight Committee. “Like so much in South Carolina education, it’s not about the fact that we’re not spending enough money. It’s about how we’re prioritizing the money that we’re currently spending.”

At least three long-time educational leaders told the Anderson Observer that Weaver would weaken an already shaky financial structure for the state’s public schools. More than a dozen teachers have told us they support Maness.  

Weaver has pledged to stop “woke indoctrination” while seeking to tie Maness to the national Democratic party. In doing so she has garnered the endorsement of many in the state’s Republican establishment. Her website emphasizes national GOP issues such as critical race theory.  

At least three long-time educational leaders told the Anderson Observer they feared Weaver would weaken an already shaky financial structure for the state’s public schools and inject politics into areas with unfounded and unhelpful posturing.  

Tuesday’s primary runoff offers voters a clear choice for the GOP candidate for state superintendent of education. Does South Carolina deserver an education chief with 30-plus years’ experience, one who has visited every district in the state to listen to teachers and administrators about their challenges in educating students, or a political operative with no practical education experience who promises who panders to the loud political voices concerned with critical race theory and other fringe issues?