Bill aims to attract South Carolinians to second careers as teachers

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - As South Carolina tries to get more teachers in the classroom, the state is looking not just toward college graduates but also at people who have work experience outside the classroom.

A bill that is now just a few steps away from reaching the governor’s desk would encourage more people with professional experience to take teaching jobs in a related field.

“Please this bill. It’s a game changer for recruitment and retention,” Patrick Kelly, a high school teacher in Richland County who also works for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, told a House Education and Public Works subcommittee this week.

Public school teachers in South Carolina have a minimum salary schedule, which is based on education and experience in the classroom.

The bill would allow work experience in a field related to the subject they would be teaching to count at a two-to-one ratio toward what they would need to move up the pay scale.

For example, someone who has 10 years’ experience working in a lab and is becoming a science teacher would be on the same step on the pay scale in their first year as a science teacher who has been in the classroom for five years.

“It is life-changing money for educators,” Kelly said.

If the bill becomes law as it is written right now, that experience outside the classroom would not count toward the experience needed for pensions or the state health plan, only toward the pay scale.

North Carolina already has this measure in place, so ers say it would be an important recruiting tool, especially in districts near the state line, where potential teachers could be deciding between jobs in South and North Carolina.

South Carolina’s other neighbor, Georgia, does not have a similar offering.

Experience in the classroom as a teacher’s aide, assistant, or full-time paraprofessional would also count on the pay scale at a one-to-one ratio if they later become certified teachers.

“To encourage folks with real-life experience to come into our schools — I agree, it’s a game changer,” Rep. James Teeple, R – Charleston, said before the House subcommittee unanimously voted to advance the bill up to the full House Education and Public Works Committee.

Last year, a similar bill fell just short of reaching the governor’s desk after it became tied up in a standoff between the House and the Senate on other education policy.

Kelly said this year’s legislation, which has already ed unanimously in the Senate, is a top priority for South Carolina educators.

“The first time we started advocating on this bill was four years ago, when I met two teachers in Fort Mill who had come into teaching from the science field. They were ionate. They were excited. They also took a $30,000 pay cut to walk into the classroom. This bill would’ve changed that for them,” Kelly said.

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