Teachers will join State Superintendent to discuss budget crisis on

A panel of classroom teachers will join State Superintendent
of Education Jim Rex Sunday night for a live discussion on how South
Carolina’s current budget crisis is affecting public schools - and
what can be done to improve the situation.

The special live broadcast of “In Our Schools” will air from 6-7
p.m. on South Carolina ETV stations across the state, and viewers can
e-mail questions to Dr. Rex and the panelists at
inourschools@scetv.org.

The teacher panel comprises:
● Jenna Hallman, South Carolina’s 2009 State Teacher of the Year
and a science teacher at Calhoun Academy of the Arts in Anderson School
District 5.
● Stephanie Seay, a first-grade teacher at Houston Elementary
School in Spartanburg District 5 and the 2006 State Teacher of the
Year.
● Genia Web, a Milken National Educator award-winning math teacher
at Lexington Middle School in Lexington District 1.
● Eric Wilkerson, a Milken National Educator and associate choir
director at Wando High School in Charleston County.

“We have short-term challenges and long-term challenges,” Rex said.
“Schools obviously need help in weathering the current crisis, and we
should provide that help whenever and wherever we can. But at the same
time, we need to start developing a more adequate and equitable way of
funding public schools. If we delay, then when the economy turns
around, we’ll be putting our tax dollars back into a system that
everybody agrees is broken.”