Re: [LM_NET] Filtering issue -- Amendment defeated -- but very interesting considering our recent discussion

[Paula Yohe <paula_yohe@YAHOO.COM>]

South Carolina

EFA PLAN PASSES; HINSON AMENDMENT FAILS

As expected, the House Ways and Means adopted a budget package that fully funds the 
Education Finance Act for the first time since 2000, including a base student cost 
of $2,290. Chairman Bobby Harrell noted that it was the first time a budget package 
won passage with a unanimous vote during his tenure. Passage means that the budget 
package could be ready for presentation in the full House as early as next week.

But unexpectedly, Rep. Shirley Hinson of Goose Creek introduced an amendment that 
would block educators' ability to communicate with lawmakers via email about 
pending legislation. Specifically, Hinson's amendment would require school boards 
to adopt new policies curtailing the spread of information on pending legislation 
and local referenda and "preventing educators from using computers to communicate 
with politicians from school," she explained.

Her strategy is understandable. During the 2004 session, Hinson served on a 
subcommittee that approved the voucher bill promoted by Governor Mark Sanford, and 
she supported and voted for the bill despite heavy opposition to it. When her 
public comments were reported via The SCEA Dateline, angry educators bombarded her 
office with calls and emails. Hinson commented aloud in a subsequent subcommittee 
meeting that she had to be careful choosing her words in the public meeting.

This year, Hinson has co-sponsored two of the three versions of Sanford's new 
voucher proposal, House Bill 3204 and H 3652.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg took issue with Hinson's amendment, asking 
whether this would prohibit her local school district administrators from sending 
their monthly legislative updates to district employees through emailed 
newsletters. Hinson said that as long as the newsletters contained only objective 
information and "not giving opinions," they would be unaffected.

"You'll be able to tell whether it's an opinion," Hinson explained. "The intent is 
not to limit public schools from doing anything to communicate to parents. If 
there's a question about that, they can ask the State Ethics Commission for an 
opinion on it."

Cobb-Hunter said the amendment represented "clearly a violation of teachers' First 
Amendment rights. We shouldn't give this burden to school boards. This shouldn't 
even be in the budget." Cobb-Hunter asked Harrell to rule on the amendment's 
germaneness, determining whether or not it conformed to committee rules governing 
amendments to the budget bill.

Rep. Annette Young of Summerville argued in support of Hinson's amendment, 
declaring that since the state legislature appropriates funds to buy computers in 
the school workplace, and the legislature governs teachers' working hours and 
salaries, the amendment should be ruled germane and allowed to pass. "Shouldn't 
they be teaching when they're emailing us?" Young asked.

Cobb-Hunter declared that it was "a stretch" that the legislature's influence over 
employees' working hours and the purchase of workplace computers in general made 
the amendment germane to the budget bill. She noted that budget amendments must be 
specifically tied to one or more line items in the pending budget bill, but 
Hinson's amendment represented instead a change in permanent law rather than a 
budget provision. "I don't think this passes the smell test," she said.

But Rep. Roland Smith of Langley, chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on 
K-12 Education, supported Hinson's and Young's arguments. "If they're using 
government equipment to attempt to influence an election or legislation or a 
referendum to raise revenues, it could be tied back to a line," he said.

But after conferring with the committee's counsel, Harrell finally ruled that 
Hinson's amendment was not germane to the budget bill, since it directed school 
districts to implement a policy, not to spend (or not spend) appropriated funds.

It is expected that Hinson will introduce the same or a similar amendment during 
the House budget debate, in a manner that conforms to House rules. Failing there, 
Hinson has sponsored a separate bill, H 3477, which makes the same proposal. That 
bill rests in the House Education Committee and has not been scheduled for debate 
in any subcommittee.






Paula Yohe
Director Of Technology/Library Media Center
Dillon School District Two
405 West Washington Street
Dillon, SC 29536
Phone: 843-841-3604 Fax:843-774-1214
paula_yohe@yahoo.com

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