Chapter 13: Why are Teachers Marching in South Carolina?

On May 1, 2019, over 10,000 people, many of them public school teachers, attended a “walkout” event at the state capitol in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. The event, organized by the teacher advocacy group SC for ED, is believed to be the largest teacher protest in South Carolina history, a state defined by its lack of worker protections and unions and its status as a right-to-work state (Schechter, 2019). So many teachers requested a day off that it forced the closure of several districts across the state (Cueto & Barton, 2019). While the reasons why individual teachers attended the rally are myriad, Figure 13.1 alludes to how a major contributing factor is likely how the profession in South Carolina is routinely undervalued and ultimately disrespected. In the image, a large sign reads #FullyFundED, a direct reference to the South Carolina legislature refusing to meet the minimum per-pupil base cost mandated by state law (Street, 2018). A smaller sign held up by a march participant states, “My 2nd and 3rd jobs paid for this sign,” tying such underfunding to teacher experiences of low salaries, unpaid workplace demands, insufficient benefits, and the need to find other sources of income. Before, during, and after the march, teachers expressed that inadequate education funding and salaries caused a variety of other woes such as large class sizes, minimal resources, overworked and tired employees, poor facilities, and severe staffing shortages. Paired with such overt financial concerns, teachers expressed disdain for ever-increasing amounts of paperwork, standardized testing, and restrictive curriculum (see also Bartell et al., 2019). Perhaps, one May 1st teacher attendee summed it up best, saying, “There’s just no break, day after day” (Cueto & Barton, 2019, n.p.). Setting a typically muggy Columbian, South Carolina May 1st day as the backdrop and outcome of extreme yet daily teacher frustration, we forward South Carolina as one point to help us understand larger regional and national trends of both educator alienation and a resultant resistance.